Living Legend Book 2 Discipline vs Mortality
by KesseliaBanta
Summary: Second of a trilogy.
1. Chapter 12

**Star Wars**

**Living Legend – Book 2 – Discipline vs. Mortality**

**Cass Eastham 1997**

**Chapter 12**

When Han killed the hyperdrive engines, he was already switching on the comm channel to report their approach and order appropriate medvacs for his wounded crew. A lonely ball in space, Yavin 4 glowed an emerald green of the thick jungle on its day side, but the base was a single cluster of lights several hundred kilometers into the night. Solo had already reported a summary of events on the subspace channel days before, so the New Alliance was expecting them, and sent warm greetings over the staticy airways. Solo hit the ramp control with one hand and unbuckled his seat belt with the other. By the time he, Lando and Kess came out of the bridge, the Falcon was swarming with medics and ground crew, shouting out orders and demanding answers about the state of the wounded. 

Kess quietly stepped aside as Counselor Leia Organa Solo was pushed out on a gurney. Solo frowned as he followed the medics and his wife off the ship, without giving so much as a glance in Kess' direction. She pushed back the afterimage of Solo's anger and moved to the passageway where her duffel was packed and waiting. Lando was there, quickly giving orders to another medic team who transferred Luke from his bunk to another gurney. Chewie walked out of the ship on his own two feet but was escorted by one of the ground crew. Zoiy had only awakened once during the trip but that was just to throw up. The swarming medics filtered off the deck after the red head was pushed out on yet a third gurney.

Kess slowly followed behind, trying to stay out of the way of all the hustle, but the armed escorts found her as soon as her combat boots hit hard cold pavement. She stopped cold and looked at them in disgust, then turned to glare at Solo just as he stepped over insistently. "Put her in holding until she's called for debriefing."

She shot at him, "Captain, you're overreacting."

Solo motioned behind him as doors slammed shut on the medvacs and red and yellow lights spun around, flickering against the dark pad walls. Sirens blared in a hair raising octave as the vehicles carried the wounded away. "Overreacting?" He raised an eyebrow at her. 

She stumbled over her words, "But-, I-," She huffed at him and put her hands on her hips. "I have a right to unbiased council!"

"In the morning." Solo promised reluctantly. "Until then, holding, now."

The escorts nudged her to move. Kess sneered at being treated like a criminal, but the escorts, soldiers much younger and lower in rank than herself, could not have cared less what she thought about the situation or why. They immediately posted themselves behind each of her shoulders, and started to usher her off the pad. 

The ground crew secured the ship and quickly hurried back to the travelway to return to their respective watches. Han hopped on the runner that was waiting to take him and Lando to the med lab so they could worry over Leia and Luke. Threepio waddled down the travelway carrying Han and Leia's bags back to their home, Artoo followed with Luke's bag on an extended arm, and Pad 14 was suddenly dark and silent again.

It must have been 22 hundred or later, Kess estimated. The travelway only had every other overhead lit and, on the pad, six out of seven lights were turned off as if to allow the hunched X-wings to sleep. Kess adjusted her duffel on her shoulder, glanced at the escorts, sighed wearily, and began her walk to the Security Building.

She was not looking forward to the grueling questioning, especially with Solo at the helm of the interrogation. Her thoughts began a checklist of all the things she had to do between now and then, including getting her story completely straight-forward and airtight. 

The wet jungle scent filled her nose. It was good to be home, regardless of the circumstances. A massive field of green grass split the six pad complexes. On one end, over looking the base with proud white pillars and an extravagant facade, stood the Council Building where the New Alliance leaders reported for work every day. At the other end of the field stood the Admin building that neatly separated two rows of barracks. Those four story rectangles were identifiable only by the numbers painted on the side and housed several thousands worth of New Alliance service members. Kess' barracks building was straight ahead, seven buildings deep into the South row. But the guards ushered her to a small nondescript building behind Admin. 

The office was near empty in the middle of the night. A sergeant, bored with his watch, filled out her paperwork, and the young private ushered her down the hall and locked her behind bars. Once she was inside, she sighed and turned around, seeing the world from the inside of a cell. The private handed her a datapad through the rod iron slits. "In case you don't feel like sleeping, you can write your debrief report."

Kess was taken aback. "Debrief report?" Kess had never been 'debriefed' before. She wasn't exactly sure what the word meant. 

"Your side of the story." He told her like she was stupid.

Kess stepped back and looked at the blank datapad. The private walked back down the hall, leaving her alone in the cell with the datapad, the camera's unwielding eye, and the fluorescent bright lights. She sat down on the bed, leaned up against the wall, and thought hard about her side of the story.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

By the time morning unfolded, Threepio had gone to her barracks and gathered her dress uniform for her and a courier had taken her debrief report to the council building. In fresh pressed khaki's and tidy, pinned up hair, Lieutenant Lendra met the two, armed escorts at the door of her cell and finally let her out. She marched with stiff pride out to the street with an escort at each shoulder and was paraded through the sidewalk where all her friends, neighbors, and shipmates paused to stare. The streets were full of speeders an the speeders were full of uniforms and Kess marched with the escorts in front of Pad Complex A then B, then C, all the while staring at the Council Building at the far end, and not even glancing at anyone that glanced at her. 

At the Council Building, the guards knew where she needed to go and directed her through the halls and up the elevator from their march behind her. The little Lt. had never been inside the building before. Without being obvious about it, she watched the other finely dressed bodies, ambassadors, administrative assistants, political officers of all kinds. When she stepped out of the elevator, they took her to the closed door of a conference room, and ordered her to parade rest. Then the escorts fell into parade rest on either side of her.

It was the most embarrassing walk of her entire life.

People brushing passed them in the hall for several minutes, then a body approached and stopped in front of her. Han Solo's face was nothing less that angry. "If you lie in there, I _will_ find out about it."

Kess didn't move her eyes to give him the pleasure of glaring at her. She took the battering in unflinching military fashion.

Solo poked his head in the door. "You ready for the Lieutenant, sir?"

Kess inhaled fearfully. Who was _Solo_ calling 'sir'?

"All right." He said, and motioned the guards to stay in the hallway. Upon Solo's mutter, Kess came to attention and marched into the conference room. The room had doors on either side, probably shortcuts into personal offices, and a window on the far wall with a view of the jungle behind the building. Among a small variety of databases and terminals, was a long table, comfortable chairs and several uniformed bodies in them.

The first Kess recognized was the Mon Calamari, Admiral Ackbar, the head of the New Alliance Fleet. Across the table from him was Admiral Drayson, Commander of Complex B, and therefore, the Commanding Officer of Rogue Group: Luke's boss. And then, of course, Commander Tolgray, the Commanding Officer of Gold Group, Kess' boss' _boss'_ boss. The highest ranking of all was the Minister of State Dell' André, who strolled casually into the room to head of the table. The old man had slightly hunched shoulders and wild gray hair and beard. 

Kess stiffly dropped to a parade rest with her back to Solo, who, smugly, shut the door behind her.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Luke opened his eyes and immediately recognized the ceiling of a patient room of the Med Lab on Yavin 4 base. He rubbed his eyes and squinted. Yes, he was definitely in Med Lab. He'd spent a lot of time in this very bed recovering from missions. His nose curled at the after smell of the bacta water that permeated his skin from an unconscious dunk in the tank.

He slowly sat up and verified to himself that, last he could recall, he had gone to sleep in a suite bedroom on the Frakkan System, thinking about things he probably shouldn't have, and mulling over the fight with Kesselia on the beach. To him, that was yesterday, but he knew that it would have taken at least four days in hyperspace just to get here. He wondered how long he was out before that, and exactly what events had caused his unconsciousness. 

Nearly on cue, Lando strolled in to the room with the silver and black skeletal frame of the med droid waddling at his heals. Two-One Bee greeted Luke with his programmed version of polite bedside manner as he began some periodic vital sign check, and Lando greeted him with a smuggler's grin. "He's alive! Howya doin' Luke?"

Luke pushed himself to sit in the bed and rubbed his eyes. He inhaled to ask the first question that popped in his head, but the second and third, and fourth questions crossed his expression before he even got any words out. 

Lando rose his eyes brows at almost laughed at Luke's honest expressions of confusion, and answered a few he knew Luke was trying to put into words. "Everybody's fine. You and Leia had been drugged into a coma but it was nothing a dip in a bacta tank couldn't cure. The Frakkan government had made a deal with the Empire and tried to turn over your negotiating team over to Admiral Cheenan, but your Usak and I foiled their plans and got you guys out of there."

"Usak," Luke repeated, _I used to know what an Usak was._ He blinked, "Kess?" Then he blinked again at his friend, "You and Kess? What were you doing there?"

Lando folded his hands under his armpits. "Coming to warn you." He squinted honestly, "I was a little late."

There was a long questionable pause in Luke's eyes. 

Lando broke the silence, "I brought your uniform so you could get out of those pajamas and sneak into debriefing as soon as you were ready."

Luke started pulling off the buttons of the hospital pajamas. "Do you have a speeder here?"

"Waiting out front," Lando said as he strolled out the door to let the man change.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Leia's assistant handed Luke the debrief reports as soon as he walked into the front office. Her white hair and cold face matched her name, "Hi Winter."

Winter led him to the back hall, "They've been in there for an hour. Leia is on her way. Captain Solo has Lendra's security check results." She paused outside the closed door of the meeting room. "Can I bring you anything?"

Luke reviewed a report as shook his head. "Uh, n-" he stopped and raised a brow at her, "Food?"

Winter nodded, "I'll have something brought up." She marched back to her desk.

"Thanks," he muttered, studying the report. Absentmindedly, he opened the side door of the conference room, and looked up as he stepped in.

"… theft, breaking an entering, illegal possession of spice products." Solo slapped the security check on the table in front of her. "Tell me again about your 'spotless' record, Lieutenant?"

Kess' eyes were slammed shut with impatience and frustration. "Spotless _military_ record, Captain." She said in a stiff but quiet voice. "Everybody here has an Imperial record."

Commander Drayson muttered disapprovingly, "Not everybody, Lieutenant."

Kess let out a stiff sigh through her nose. "I tell you, I don't know any more about the Usak than you do."

As Luke closed the door behind him he read aloud from the report in his hand, disbelieving the insane idea. "Jumped on to the ship while it hovered next to the broken window of the thirty fifth floor. Who thought up that part of the plan?" He smirked at Lando then at Kess' back.

At the sound of his voice, Kess spun around in her chair. "Luke," she breathed. 

Luke stopped short. It wasn't an, 'I'm-so-happy-your-here-to-save-me-from-these-vultures' gasp, and it wasn't even a, 'I'm-so-happy-I-didn't-kill-the-last-Jedi-by-accident' kind of relief. Luke blinked at her wide-eyed, relieved stare. Naturally, he could feel the emotions on the Force that no one else could read. The emotion was almost foreign to him: she was honestly concerned for his general well being. And Luke was a little honored by it.

A weird silence fell over the room for a moment. The Commanders, the Admiral, and the Minister watched the engagement slightly perplexed. 

Solo finally sat down at the table, "Did you get a chance to read either report?"

Luke blinked again and browsed over the report as he sat down at the tail end of the table near, but not next to, Kess. "Not much. I'm looking at Kess' now." He nodded casually at the brass at the other end of the table. "Gentlemen." He greeted all of them in a single word.

Kess was almost afraid to ask. "Is Leia all right too?"

Solo raised a brow at her again. Commander Tolgray almost laughed, "_Leia_?" he echoed.

Kess sat back in her chair again, "I- I mean - uh counselor …," she gulped and closed her eyes for a relaxing, anxiety cleansing sigh.

Luke looked at her out of the corner of his eye, smirking a little like a proud father at her knee jerk reaction with a Jedi meditation. 

"Counselor Organa Solo has recovered as well." The Minister of State assured her quietly.

Kess sighed and gave a quick smile, "Oh good," then she sighed again.

All eyes seemed to be on her, and it seemed that it had been that way for a while. Kess was starting to get weary of the intense questioning. Luke cleared his throat, "So, where were we?"

Han slid the security check results across the table at him. "We were reviewing evidence of the Lieutenant's character."

Luke gave the man a half grin as he picked it up. "We wouldn't by chance be able to compare _your_ character with _your_ Imperial record, now would we, Han?"

Admiral Ackbar chuckled.

Kess mentally stuck her tongue out at Han.

Han leaned onto the table with folded fingers. "I sent up a request to have a Repair Engineer assigned to our trip for a repair in air. _Any_ repair engineer, as long as they were good. By the time Commander Tolgray got my request, it expressly asked for Lendra by name. Now you show me one solid piece of evidence that proves you didn't have a hand in gundecking the records."

Kess opened her mouth, paused, and spit it out, "I didn't do it. I didn't do anything. I didn't even know I was this Usak thingy until Lando told me."

Admiral Drayson croaked quietly, "That's not proof Lieutenant."

Kess sighed at her lap again. "No, I know it's not, Admiral." 

"Kess?" Luke looked Kess in the eye and asked carefully, "Did you gundeck the request, or not?"

She looked at him honestly, almost begging. "No, I did not gundeck the request. I didn't even know the request was gundecked until after we _left_ Frakkan." She inhaled desperately, "Luke, I swear to you…."

His elbow was on the table casually covering a serious and drawn in mouth. The stiff look reminded her again, _That's Master Luke if you can't keep it straight._

Kess stopped short, shut her mouth and sighed at her lap again. "I mean…Master… I didn't do it."

Commander Tolgray inhaled to speak, but Leia burst in through the door. She didn't look at the audience, but read a report aloud from her hand before the door slid shut behind her. "Ten thousand, four hundred and sixty two people dead. Countless more wounded. The entire city of Sultani has been flattened." She stopped behind Luke and slid the report across the table toward the Minister and his high officials. "Dell, I swear we were this close to a treaty conclusion."

"There's nothing you could have done, Leia." Lando told her, "Admiral Cheenan arrived the same day you guys did. The Frakkan's were keeping your presence a secret as long as they could." 

Luke reached for the report. "The entire city? Why?"

Admiral Ackbar bobbed his head. "Admiral Cheenan was upset because he lost his chance on the Usak."

Kess shuddered in her chair.

Leia yelled across the room, "So we've got another Sith Lord taking out his anger on thousands of innocent people!" She paced the back of the room. "And just when we were getting the Alliance on its feet!" 

Once Luke was finished with the report, he offered it wearily to Han. Han waved it off, "I read it."

Minister Dell' André leaned back in his chair and looked at Leia over the rim of his spectacles again. "Let's take a short recess. Leia, talk to me about the treaty that almost was."

Luke started to stand up, "Do you need me Minister?" The Minister waved him off. Lando and Han stood and chatted as they filed out of the room, Han giving Kess' back a hard look before he moved out the door. The Admiral and the Commanders filed out as well, going to their commlinks or textlinks to take care of other business during the break. Luke stepped up to Kess just as she reluctantly rose from her chair. "Come," he said succinctly.

Kess' eyebrows knotted, but she followed.

Out in the office common, Winter handed Luke a paper bag. 

"Is the library empty?" He asked her quietly.

Winter nodded. Not only in response to his question, but to his insinuation as well. Without a glance at Kess, he pushed into a room across the office common and motioned for her to shut the door behind her. 

There were databases and terminals galore in here. All the information the Alliance had at somebody's fingertips. Kess noticed that every screen or display awaited a password, and they were probably all different passwords at that. Luke put down the bag and dug out a fat wad of paper, from which he unfolded a sandwich and took a bite. That's when he looked at her again. "Sounds like you had a lot of fun."

Kess took in a breath and spoke evenly. "I have a right to unbiased council. Captain Solo pro-"

Luke swallowed his bite and shrugged. "What do you need council for? You're not being charged with anything?" He said like the idea of it was insane.

Kess hardened her stare at him, "Master Luke, Captain Solo would have me nailed to the wall by now if he could! He made me spend the night in holding and he's writing this up as if the failure of the whole mission was my fault! And now with Sultani all gone…" She inhaled a quivering breath and looked at her useless hands, "And there's nothing I can do to prove to them…. There's … I…."

"Kesselia." He yanked her attention out of her torment. When she finally looked at him, like she was afraid to look at him, he softened his voice. "Find your peace."

She rubbed her lips together reluctantly, then closed her eyes and quickly meditated away the worry. 

"First of all, let's get one thing straight." He took a bite, chewed and swallowed it. His voice was quiet. "You've called me Master twice now… are we still on?"

Kess blinked at him. She licked her lips and spoke quietly, "I'd like to be, but I know I goofed. I used a lightsaber against your wishes. I almost got you and your sister killed. I screwed up a treaty." She strolled passed him; wiping the sweat from her brow. "Shall I go on?"

His stared at nothing and shook his head, "That's not what I'm talking about."

She turned her back to him and tried to hide her emotions. For a moment, the heart-crunching pain from being yelled at swelled up again. 

Luke detected it and his eyes fell on her back. "You ran off… and you were gone for hours… did you quit?"

She turned and tried to look at him but couldn't gather enough guts to do so. "No. I didn't quit. I guess I just… needed some time." She closed her eyes, "I am so sorry."

He nodded and took another bite of his sandwich. "All right. Save apologies for another time. We need to figure out how you got assigned to the Falcon."

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "I have no idea."

"I've seen the reports. So I know what happened, and it wasn't you're fault. Now, we don't have a lot of time in here, so I want you think very hard and start telling me anything about the Usak, the Frakkan mission, or you long slumbering Force Sensitivity that you failed to mention." Luke took the last bite of the sandwich that he was going to, and put the remainder back in the wadded paper on the desk. He brushed the crumbs off his hands and folded his arms at his chest as he swallowed it. 

Kess pursed her lips and eyed a blank spot in the air. Suddenly she shrugged, "I didn't even know there was a Frakkan system until we got there, I didn't know there was such a thing as an Usak until you told me the riddles, and I had no idea I was using the Force in my sleep. Everything I've learned, I learned after we left Yavin 4." She sighed through her nose and closed her eyes in frustration. "But nobody is going to believe that."

"I believe you," he promised in a soft voice.

Kess turned to him and looked him in the eyes for the first time since the Frakkan mission. "You do?" It was strange, but his faith was all that mattered. 

Luke saw the sincerity in her face and the depths of her hopes, all blossoming just for his approval. It didn't bounce off his defenses they way he thought it should.

He redirected his gaze and half-turned to pick up the paper mess from his sandwich but used the moment to close his eyes and meditate. "Yes, I do." When he opened them a second later, he was better. He turned back around and shifted to leave. "I've got an idea so follow my lead whether you like the idea or not."

"Yes, Master." Her heart smiled at the revived confidence Luke managed to give her in less than five minutes. She followed him back into the office common. In minutes, the crowd was asked back into the conference room.

Minister Dell' André shuffled his feet to the head chair at the window end of the table and sat down again, reviewing a datapad as the crowd piled back into the room and sat down silently at the table. He glanced at Kess once over the rim of his spectacles and put down the datapad on the table in front of him. "Climbed thirty five stories up an elevator shaft." He chuckled at Kess for a moment, "Young energy." 

"Yes, Minister." Kess whispered, not knowing how else to respond to the grandfather-like comment.

The Minister brought another datapad to his sights and pulled on his shaggy beard. Seeing that everyone was seated and the door was shut again, he folded his fingers in front of his face and looked across the table. "Commander Skywalker, was is your understanding of the term: Usak?"

"I think they are after a Jedi Apprentice." Luke said honestly. "I think that Kadaan is interested in any Force Sensitive person he can get his hands on, and the Usak is a code word they are using to smuggle as many potential apprentices to him as they can."

Kess' glanced at Luke and glanced at the Minister, who nodded approvingly. 

Admiral Ackbar put in, "With all due respect commander, you haven't had much time to review the data."

Luke sat back in his chair. "I deduced this before we were kidnapped. My opinions have not changed. Admiral Cheenan was upset because he couldn't deliver any of us to Kadaan," he motioned to Kess, "The Usak included. And his people paid dearly for it. Nonetheless, if I'm right, Kadaan is going to keep coming after her until she attains full Jediship."

Lando draped an arm across his chair, "So Jedi training is still on then?"

Luke hadn't realized how much data Kess had to include in her debrief report. Now he wondered how much she told them. 

Admiral Tolgray looked at Admiral Ackbar and motioned to a datapad, "According to the Lieutenant's report, you got into an argument that left her in a state of confusion about her training status."

Luke's eyes shifted from the Admiral to Kess. Her eyes tried to tell him that she didn't specify what their argument was over, but, thinking about it, Luke knew that she was too embarrassed about the episode to admit it willingly anyway. "Training is still on," he told them, but he was still looking at her. 

To everyone else, it looked like a message between Master and Apprentice. From Luke and to Kess, there was a little bit more to it than that. Kess felt guilty about it all over again.

Leia redirected the conversation. "Training is still on. Fine. So what do you need to continue it now that we're home?"

Luke opened his mouth then spit it out. "Time, more than anything. And as much assurance as possible that someone's not going to nab her while she's out of my sight." He studied the table for a moment and looked up again, speaking to Admiral Ackbar, Leia, and Commander Tolgray, respectively. "I need to be excluded from missions away from here. I need to be excused from as many Council Meetings as possible, and I need to have the Lieutenant temporarily assigned to Rogue Group as a security measure until her training is complete."

Commander Tolgray eyed Kess for approval of the temp transfer. Dumbfounded, Kess reluctantly nodded, then, more honestly, shrugged at him. As the wave of approvals muttered through the room, Kess thought about it. She closed her eyes in a silent curse. _The bastard wants to be there so he can properly punish me for my temper._

Luke's sarcastic voice echoed in a dozen musical notes in her head. _"You are so insightful."_

"And the Usak?" Minister Dell' André asked, "Should we continue to investigate."

Luke thought for a moment, chewing on the inside of his cheek, and shrugged. "I don't think there's a reason to. We know that she's the Usak and we know the Usak is a code-word that has something to do with the Force. I think that's all we need to know."

Leia agreed, "We could wait until we here from the Frakkan government again. We should be hearing an apology shortly." 

Admiral Ackbar started collecting his notes. "There's a Military Council meeting at thirteen hundred. Commander Skywalker and Captain Solo, your attendance is mandatory." 

Leia browsed over notes after notes. "Han, could you look for any new information on the standing of the Frakkan government?"

Han started gathering his datacards, "Yes, your Highnessness."

The Minister of State left his notes on the table for someone else to clean up, "Leia, Luke, I need you both in my office as soon as you done here," he grumbled as he went to the other side door of the room, "so you can tell me what I'm supposed to say to the Iliki Ambassador."

Leia winced, "She's still here?"

Everyone started moving as if someone had said 'dismissed'. Kess uncomfortably took the cue to get up and file out of the room. Luke stood to talk to her again, but Commander Tolgray beat him to the punch and ushered Kess to a corner in the office common. Luke turned to other business in the mean time.

Kess straightened her shoulders at the Gold Group Commander and tried not to look guilty.

He looked at her, shaking his head, and suddenly sighed, "Lieutenant, I know I told you to show your colors. . . but in the name of the Force…" he motioned to the lightsaber at her belt.

Kess blushed a little. 

More seriously, he lowered his voice even more. "Technically, you are still under my command, and I will help you in any means you need as your Commanding Officer, unbiased council, or even just a little friendly advice, but here's some for free…. " He gave her a cold, hard look. "Whether you are innocent or not does not neutralize the fact that the Empire wants you very badly, and therefore your life, and the lives around you, are still in danger." 

He paused long enough for that statement to sink in, and continued. "I wanted you to hear it from me that your Jedi training is probably the best way you can defend yourself. . . politically, militarily, and physically. If I were you, I'd follow Skywalker's Jedi orders to the letter, and I will support his every request of assistance in regards to your training." 

Her eyes looked up, disbelieving of the help he offered in spite of his point of view. 

"I am telling you these things because I want you to be fully aware that there are a lot of people watching you right now, and not all of them are friends. I don't want you to start trusting any enemies, and I know that, right now, you can't tell which ones are which. Do you understand that, Lieutenant?"

Kess drew in her lips and nodded. "Yes, sir."

Suddenly, the Commander smiled again. "May the Force be with you and have a good day. I'll tell Shorkey you said hello."

Kess gave a weakly appreciative smile as he left the office. 

Before she soaked in everything he said. Luke stepped up and looked her in the eye. "Ground rules," he said softly. "No Jedi related questions on duty; no duty related questions during training. And that goes for both of us. On occasion, I will quietly remind you to act like a Jedi during duty but that will be it. All right?"

Kess leaned her shoulder to the wall, looked at the ground, and nodded obediently.

His voice softened with a kind order. "Go home, get some rest, unpack, have beer and patzia with your friends and I will stop by later." 

Kess mulled it over for a minute and looked up again to speak, but stopped. Luke was still staring at her with concern. 

She let her words out, "What about when were not on duty or training?"

Blue eyes thought on that a moment, then gave her a deep and solid look. "If we're not on duty, we _are_ training." He patted her once on the shoulder and turned to back to the conference room without further discussion. 

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess stopped by Pad 9 to talk to Shorkey herself about the continued temp transfer and a little to Kaila, who had apparent done a very good job of filling in the Floor Supervisor position in Kess' absence. She walked away from smoothly running group wondering if they'd even missed her. She then went to the security office to collect her duffel bag and lightsaber, but it took a long conversation with the security chief about her release and by who's authority she was permitted to walk around free. After that, she went to the Ditty Bag to refresh her toiletry supplies, stopped by the grocer because she knew Yana and Joann didn't keep a supply of sweetwater in the icebox and then ended up at the Mash Pit for a beer by herself.

Late on a Monday afternoon, few tables were filled, and only an elderly woman of some green skinned species sat at the bar. The droid set a sloppily filled mug in front of Kess and went away without a beep. She felt comfortable at the little urban hunting lodge. That's how she liked to think of the place: a hunting lodge. She fondly remembered Kaila always dragging her here on Deli night to try to pick up men. That was sure to be happening again this Wednesday now that Kess was back, but she felt even less like chasing men now than she did before. 

Kess had been gone over a month… she straightened her shoulders and thought again, two months…. and everything seemed so different, like a new perspective. Kess glanced over her shoulder to their favorite table. The last time she was in here, she was debating with the girly girls about whether or not Luke would even be attending the trip. 

Luke's sarcastic voice had echoed in a dozen musical notes in her head. _You are so insightful._

She never would have guessed the Jedi Knight would talk with thick sarcasm in his voice. Thoughtfully, she turned back to look at her reflection in the decorated bar mirror, remembering her relief when she saw him standing on his own two feet, awake. She smiled and took a swig of beer.

_I need to have the Lieutenant temporarily assigned to Rogue Group._

_The bastard wants to be there so he can properly punish me for my temper._

_You are so insightful._

Kess bit her lower lip. It was confirmed. He did know that she had occasional fits of temper while she worked on the Falcon with Chewie.

But how did he know? She sat up straight.

_How did you know my name was Kesselia?"_

_Luke stopped chewing and pulled his shoulder away from the wall. "I looked at your security check results this morning"_

She hadn't even been through a security check yet. 

No one had called her Kesselia since she was knee high to a Jawa, and as far as she knew, the Alliance had no record that Kesselia was even her real name. Someone in intelligence must really like their job.

Kess stared at the memories in the air in front of her. Her lips parted with shock, insult, and a brand new flavor of embarrassment.

_Have beer and patzia with your friends and I will stop by later._

She never told him about Deli night.

_You're my first apprentice, and I know you better than you think._

Her eyes dropped closed.

_If you were unarmed, you wouldn't have lasted that long._

"You knew me all along." Her brows knotted and her mouth drew in tight to whisper, "You son of a bitch."


	2. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13******

Kess finally reached her barracks apartment late in the day. Late enough to find Yana and Joanne already home from work when she walked in the door. Yana was in shorts and a tank and barefoot cooking up some kind of dinner in the kitchenette. Her chestnut hair was pulled back into a poofy ponytail that bounced around her back. "Kess, you're home." She greeted with a smile; she turned, stopped, and stared.

Joanne heard the voices and popped her head out the bedroom door. White teeth flashed from a dark skinned face, "Hey girly girl!" 

Kess gave them a token smile and a depressed hello. She began tearing off her dress uniform upon entering the apartment and was half naked by the time she plopped down on the couch. She blew up at her bangs and slouched.

Yana stood in front of her, her words already weighted. "How was your trip?"

Tired brown eyes met Yana's, knowing what Yana was staring at, "Educational."

Joanne curiously sat down in the easy chair, resting her elbows on her knees. "Educational?" She winced. "Did Jedi Skywalker go?" Then Joanne saw the lightsaber as well. First she squinted at it, then she grinned at it, then she narrowed her eyes at Kess. "What is that thing hanging off your belt?"

"You got some explaining to do, young lady," Yana warned.

Joanne leaned forward to look at it, "Is it… his?"

Kess looked at her from under her eyebrows, "No, you fool, it's mine."

Joanne whined disbelieving, "You mean to tell me you leave on a one to four month repair in air and you come back-"

"With her meat hooks in the most prized bachelor of the fleet." Yana accused and turned back to the kitchen. "Kaila will be proud."

A twinkle sparked in Joanne's eye. "Can I see it?"

Without a thought, Kess pulled off her lightsaber and handed it over. She sighed heavily, "Kaila is proud. I saw her today on the pad."

_Snap vroom_ The sound echoed loudly against the apartment walls. Yana jumped and turned. Joanne was looking up and down the blade with awe. Kess saw them both and smiled like and seasoned parent. "Don't touch anything with the blade."

Joanne dropped the blade from the air a little and gave her a look of insult. "Duh."

Yana turned back to dinner showing no more curiosity about Kess' trip. Kess bit her tongue. Yana wouldn't ask about events she knew Kess probably couldn't discuss. Yana worked in the CIC bunker where everything was a secret and they were trained to only ask questions on a need to know basis. 

Kess realized just how much Yana never talked about her day at work. As a result, the girly girls were subconsciously trained not to ask her. Suddenly, Kess and Yana had something in common, and Kess had to ask, even if Yana denied it under a shroud of Alliance security. "Hey, Yana. Do you ever talk to Skywalker in the CIC bunker?"

Yana glanced over her shoulder. "Why?"

Kess pulled her body off the couch. "Have you ever mentioned our Deli Night to him? Or my real name? Or anything like that?"

Yana stopped and looked at her expressionless, her brown ponytail bobbing at her back, "What is your real name?"

They exchanged stiff but understanding looks. Yana could even confirm she talked to Luke from time to time, and Kess understood that it was worse not being able to talk about it than it was not being able to hear about it. "He seemed to know more information about me than any report would have included. I was wondering if he got any of that information from you, that's all."

Yana bit her lips and inhaled. "I can tell you that Commander Skywalker and I have never had a conversation of a personal nature," she said carefully, then added, "about anybody." She gave Kess a look that she was hoping that sliver of carefully chosen words answered Kess' question. Kess nodded thankfully.

_Hissssss_. "Oh shit," Joanne cussed. The smell of burning plastic permeated the air, and the lightsaber blade was sucked back into its hilt. Kess and Yana turned.

Joanne was investigating a large chunk of the drink table that was suddenly missing and the cauterized wound of the black lacquer. Yana went to the table swearing. "Joanne, what in a black hole did you do? Look at this! It melted right through the table!"

"I didn't realize the blade was that long," she whined. 

Kess' shoulders melted. She reached a hand out to Joanne, who, wilting like a puppy dog in trouble, handed the hilt back.

"It's gonna take six months to requisition us another table!" Yana complained, "And you get to do the paperwork, girly girl." 

Kess ignored their exchange. She picked up her duffel and went to her room to unpack and take a shower.

Joanne sat up straight in the chair, looking guiltily up at Yana as the brunette glared at her on the way back to the kitchenette. 

An hour later, Yana was loading the dishwasher and Joanne was at the comm terminal. "What kind of a table is it?"

The doorbell buzzed. 

"Kaila's just in time for dinner, as always." Yana sneered and wiped her hands on a rag as she moved across the floor. "It's a standard issue, four foot, black lacquer drink table… just like everybody else's. " 

"What do I put for the cause of damage?"

She fired Joanne and attitude as she hit the door control with her elbow. "Tell them you snuck into the lightsaber cabinet while your Jedi roommate wasn't looking." But when Yana looked over her shoulder, it wasn't Kaila at the door.

Yana breathed then smiled in innocently pleasant greeting. "Commander Skywalker."

Luke nodded back, "Lieutenant Deitrik."

He inhaled to ask for Kess, but Yana turned away from the door to let him in. "Kess! Company!" She hustled back to the kitchenette to finish the dishes.

Luke stepped shyly inside and shut the door behind him. He shoved his hands into his pockets uncomfortably. The Jedi Knight was not accustomed to visiting a female barracks suite. 

Joanne still had her fingers on the keyboard, but her black eyes were affixed on Luke. 

"Troubles?" He said with a minuscule grin.

She glanced at the screen then peeled herself from the chair with a sweet but nervous smile. "Well, you can't honestly tell me you haven't accidentally… bumped into a few inanimate objects with your lightsaber, can you?"

Luke smiled and started.

Kess came out of her room with a handful of hanging clothes, "Do stormtroopers count?" she said flatly on her way to the coat closet.

Luke's eyes narrowed at Kess' harsh attitude that glared on the Force.

Joanne paled. She slid her feet away, her voice warped from a clenched throat. "I'm going to my room now."

Luke blinked and turned to Joanne. "What did you hit?"

Yana pointed at the drink table in the middle of her movements.

Joanne paused at her bedroom door, watching Luke stroll over and peer at the drink table. He glanced up at her with friendly grin, "I've seen worse."

Kess was suddenly at his side. "Really?" Her voice carried no humor. "What?"

Luke's brows furrowed at her and he balled his prosthetic hand in his pocket. "Tell yeah later." He watched her huff and turn away, "What's the matter?"

Kess disappeared back into her room, "Tell yeah later."

Luke stared at the empty bedroom doorway for a moment.

Joanne nodded, "I was right, I am going into my room now."

Yana put the hand towel down on the counter, peering over her shoulder. "Yeah, I think I will too." 

"No, no." Luke told them as he stepped over to Kess' open bedroom door. "Kess, could I interest you in a hot cup across the street?"

She was suddenly at his face again. "It that the politically correct way of saying, 'We need to talk.'?" Her head rocked on her neck as she said it. 

His glare hardened to scolding. He answered firmly, "Yes."

As if she were just slapped with an order, Kess set her chin and went back into her bedroom. Luke watched her sit on a single-wide bed and pull on a pair of worn-out, brown boots. Her long hair fell over her shoulder as she pulled the sleeves of her pants down over them and she hastily flung it back out of the way. She wrapped a utility belt over the waist of snug jeans and attached the lightsaber to its hitch. She grabbed her credit chip and identicard and stuffed them in the front pocket of a baggy red blouse. In her casual civvies, the lightsaber didn't seem to fit the picture. 

Luke chewed on the inside of his cheek as he waited for her and watched disapprovingly when she marched out of the bedroom and punched open the front door. He remembered Leia's fits of temper and wondered if all women were like this when they were mad.

With a sigh, he strolled back to the front door and followed her out, pausing long enough to wave behind him. "Nice to meet you."

Joanne was peering out her bedroom door at them. Yana was eyeing them from the kitchenette. When the front door shut, they looked at each other quizzically.

When the elevator door slid closed, Luke asked her insistently. "What is the matter?"

She folded her arms at her chest and met his eye. "How long had you been watching me before we met in fencing class?"

Luke caught his breath and lowered a stiff chin. He met her stare and inhaled. "A year," he admitted with a breath.

Kess dropped her arms, sneering at him. "A year!?" Then, as the elevator door opened, she sneered at the door. Open mouth shock plastered across her face as she stormed out to the hall then stormed back toward him. "How in a black hole did you watch me for a year?"

Luke stuffed his hands back into his pockets casually and strolled out of the building, pretending to ignore her tantrum. "I watched you through the Force and only on a rare occasion. I didn't watch anything personal," he promised. "I was just trying to find out if you were Force sensitive and if you had the mind set to be a Jedi." His boots clicked quietly on the sidewalk. Night on the jungle moon was warm and wet. An occasional streetlight lit the sidewalk and an occasional speeder passed them on the quiet street. 

Her hell-bent, offended eyes stared at him as he walked, "And what exactly did you watch?"

His voice was calm, understanding that she had good reason to be upset with him. "I watched you at work, at fencing class, and sometimes at the Mash Pit. I was trying to find out how you dealt with life. How you reacted to daily stresses, thing like that. If you knew I was looking at you for an apprentice, you would have changed your habits."

Her paced finally slowed to walk next to him as they crossed the street to the block behind Admin. Street lamps glowed on the benches that dotted along the wide sidewalk. The running track and a crooked set of bleachers lay empty and dark to the right. A cluster of buildings, including Admin, the Security Office and the Hot Shop, sat low lit and quiet to the left. Kess shot a glance at the building she slept in the night before. This new gang she was hanging out with was starting to get on her nerves. Kess exhaled in disbelief and whimpered, "A whole year?"

Luke eyed her. "It's not like you didn't have the same opportunity. How many years have you been tracking my movements through the media?"

Kess shot him a look but admitted it anyway, "Since the Battle of Yavin."

"Eight years," he clarified and looked down at her again. "I think we're even."

Kess blew up at her bangs.

 "I have not, and I will not watch you now that we have met in person. You have my word." 

They reached the Hot Shop and went inside. It was a small, one-room restaurant with a counter and four tables. The droid took their orders and began brewing up the requested concoctions. Kess turned to him and leaned her hip against the glass counter front. "What made you start watching me?"

"Ben pointed you out." The steamy cups arrive on the counter and he took his, leading the way back out of the tiny, hut-like building. 

She took her own cup and followed him back out to the wide, empty sidewalk. "Which one is Ben?" 

"My first Jedi Master," he reminded her. "Sometimes, he points me in the right direction when I get stuck. I knew that I had to start thinking about training someone, but I had no idea where to start, so, during a meditation, he opened up a window in the Force and it focused on you."

Kess sipped the chocolaty drink without tasting it and plopped down onto a bench. She sat silently for several long seconds trying to recount duty and social events that happened to her over the passed year. "So, your master was the one who actually chose me as your first apprentice." 

Luke nodded reluctantly, "You could look at it that way, yes." He sat down sideways and pulled up a knee in front of him so he could face her. "I apologize. I should have found a more honest way to investigate you."

Brown eyes shifted to him sarcastically, "A security check would have been a thought."

Luke started to smile. "You're right." He took a sip of his cup and looked at a blank spot on the bench seat. "You're right," he muttered again. 

A tense silence wafted between them. Kess tried to shake it off her shoulders and spoke lightly, "So, anything new about the Usak?"

Luke's eyes flicked back up to her.

"Are you guys going to be able to salvage that treaty?" She glanced at him and chuckled nervously, "Am I going to spend any more nights in jail?"

His eyes seemed to soften a little, but they darted to the ground and back up again. "Nothing new."

With novice Force senses, she could feel the conversation start to thicken, and she stood up to avoid his heavy stare. She stopped two paces away and sipped her cup again.

He turned to sit straight. His tone lowered at her back, "I didn't come here to talk about the treaty or the Usak… and you know it."

Kess gritted her teeth at the embarrassment of this hitting her again. She shrugged dramatically. "I was evil, okay? I acted on emotions rather than peace," she admitted with his fine Jedi quote. She looked up at the starry night and forced herself to admit it out loud, "I made a mistake and didn't get the chance to apologize for pissing you off." She swung around to him. "So, now: I'm sorry. I screwed up. and, You're right." She met his eyes, "Okay? Can we drop it now? Like you wanted to in the first place?"

Luke smiled at her outburst. "You didn't piss me off, Kess." He looked at her with sincerity. "You scared me."

Her lip curled, "I scared you?" 

He sipped gingerly and turned to her as she sat back down. "I'm going to be honest with you, Kesselia," he explained easily. "All of the Jedi Masters are dead, even the ones who trained me. And they died before they had a chance to teach me a fraction of what I needed to know. Except for Supreme Prophet Kadaan and his dark pupils, there are _no other_ Jedi besides myself." He stressed his words because he wasn't sure if she understood the weight of that fact.

When her eyes flickered with the reality, he continued. "I have the records from Dalthomir, but as I said before, I've only been through about thirty percent of them. Still, most of them are fact records: who trained, who graduated, who failed. There's very little about the actual training, about rules and regulations and customs and. . ." he grinned as he said it, voicing the absurdity of the phrase, "_mating rituals_. . . . You came trampling over a subject that I know very little about in Jedi practices and you scared me because I didn't know what to do about it."

Her mind chewed on that for a moment and she started to grin at her cup sheepishly. "I take it you and Ben never had this problem?"

He paused for another sip and fought off the urge to start laughing. "What I do know is that you still have a lot of work in controlling all of your emotions, not just that one. Now what kind of Jedi Master would I be if I let that one slide just because I might benefit from it?"

Kess smiled shyly at the concrete, uncomfortably happy that the forbidden subject was no longer forbidden, at least for the moment. She pulled the snapshot of the moment out of her memory. Her chest was quivering with a hidden chuckle, "But the look on your face was priceless."

Luke smiled, a little embarrassed too, "I'm sure it was." His eyes drifted back into his own memory and came back to the present. "Look, this is as much of a learning process for me as it is for you. I'm going to make just as many mistakes as you are. You're my lab rat apprentice. So, bear with me. The subject you're studying is much more vast than you can comprehend right now, and it's more powerful than you can imagine. And any microscopic mistake can send you barreling down a path that I won't necessarily be able to pull you from. Now, I am going to do anything in my power to prevent that, but you have to work at it, too. You will have to become a strong Jedi even if I'm not standing next to you."

Kess' smile sobered appropriately. "Yeah, I understand." Her heart stung. She soaked in all that he said, but the way she read it, he was also saying that he wasn't interested. She muttered rhetorically, "You really don't have any emotions, do you?"

Luke swallowed. His was a quieter mutter, "I have enough to feel insulted."

Her eyes went to him, surprised she would have so much power, and when she saw the look in his eyes and slightly slanted brows, she realized that she did. Her lips parted, then pressed together again. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely, rubbing her eyes and wincing into the night air. "I'm sorry. I really did hear all you said. I guess I just-" She winced again and wanted to implode.

Luke looked at his mug while she back-pedaled. "You mind if I make an observation?"

Kess sipped her paper mug and stared at nothing in the air. She nodded even though she knew she didn't want to hear it.

He put one hand on his knee and looked at her. "You have a childhood crush on a superhero you saw on the vid."

Kess closed her eyes.

"But, he doesn't exist."

Her eyes peeled open again and glanced his direction.

"I'm not the kind of man you think I am." He let that hang in the air a moment. "But I _hope_. . . that when you get to know the man I really am, you'll respect me just as much."

Kess tilted over a sympathetic and appreciative smile. She leaned back on the bench and crossed her arms, still holding the mug in one hand. She looked him in the eye. "Forgive this for sounding pointed, but, why would you care what I think?" 

Luke pulled up from his mug with a blink. The glanced at the concrete for an answer, but pressed his mouth for a little shrug. He looked back at her with a light tone, "I just do." He grinned apologetically. He had no more of an answer than that.

Her quiet grin warmed at him a little more. Then she shifted more his direction. "Will you please do me a favor?"

Happy to feel the weight start to lift from the conversation, his head tilted, "What?"

"You watched me for a year. Can you tell me some secret about you so I'm not," she started to chuckle weakly, "feeling so exposed?"

He ducked a grin and licked the chocolate drink from his lips. He nodded, thought a long moment…

… and the moment stretched into a minute.

Her brows rose. "Is it really that difficult?"

He shook his head quickly, "Yes and no um… I'm a little limited about what I can tell you, right now."  
She quipped. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of a long story, right?"

He breathed out a smile, "How about if I tell you something we have in common?"

She gave him a bit of a double-take. "We have a lot in common."

"Yeah, but you don't know this one… and I wouldn't know it if I hadn't watched you."

She shrugged. "Shoot."

He tapped his fingers on the back of the bench as he listed the names, "Han, Leia, Wedge, Lando," he thought a second, "and a few others, harass me about finding a date as bad as your friends harass you." 

A brow rose and pulled out a grin. "You're kidding."

Luke shook his head honestly at her.

"I'm surprised you'd have so much trouble."

He shrugged, "My family tree keeps getting in the way."

She did a harder double take at that and grinned crazier than her tone, knowing that it probably sounded worse than the real story behind it. Her voice climbed a grinning octave. "Who in hell are you related to?"

Luke closed his eyes and tapped again on the back of the bench as he shook his head. "It's-

Kess nodded and raised her voice to join him.

"Kind of a long story," They said in unison then both dropped their heads to chuckle about it.

"That reminds me." Luke said, trying to put his laughter away. "I also wanted to talk to you about your grandfather. I looked up the name Lendra in the Jedi records and the Alliance records, but I didn't find anything. How sure are you that he trained formally?"

A perverse smile grew across Kess' face, "His name wasn't 'Lendra.'"

Blue eyes perked up, "It wasn't?"

"No. It was my _mother's_ father. Thus the K. in Kesselia K. Lendra."

Luke cocked his head aside with a grin, "All right, so what does the K stand for?" 

Her smile went from perverse to pure evil, "Why don't you look it up in my security check?" 

Luke chewed the inside of his cheek to hide the grin but didn't look away or defend himself. 

Kess sipped her drink and chuckled, "Three, three. You're serve."

He stopped trying to hide his smile then. He stared at her for a long second as she giggled at him. He realized that the training kept tripping on this rift of discontentment and he thought of an idea that might keep it from becoming a problem again. Of course, that was only part of the reason. The rest of him just wanted to. He licked his lips and chose his words carefully, "I would be honored if you would let me take you out to dinner."

Kess' head actually jerked. She tried swallowed her big smile. She tried to hush the warm fuzz growing in her chest. She was complimented. She was honored. She was blushing. Her mouth opened, but no words came. Before she thought of the right, properly-flirtatious response, he spoke again.

"The  day  you  graduate  from  training." He carefully pronounced every word and watched her shock drift into embarrassment. "Until then, pacify it like it's any other emotion. All right?" 

Kess laughed and tried to calm her beating pulse. She didn't want to, but she knew she had to. She nodded at her lap, still smiling, but sighing off the buzz.

His smile grew. "Four, three. I win."

Kess snickered out a brand new smile. Sparkling eyes looked at him.

Luke leaned toward her with wide, comical eyes and pointed to the short bleachers and gravel oval not far away from where they sat. "Right there, on the grinder, ready to run, at zero four fifteen."

"You don't have an ocean to threaten me with anymore."

"No." He pointed toward a wall of jungle that, oddly enough, had not yet been cleared out for some building, "I have a muddy, slimy, snake-ridden swamp."

"You wouldn't dare."

A sparkle shined in his firm blue eyes, "Wouldn't I?"

Kess smiled and gave in. "Okay, you would." Her hot cup was sweet and chocolaty, the wet jungle smelled like life in full bloom, and her tension melted away back to the casual, innocent flirting that she knew would probably never get her anywhere, except that, for the moment, he was flirting back.

Luke stood up and tossed his empty cup into a nearby trashcan. He turned to her and slid his hands into his front pockets as he studied her. Kess tossed her empty cup as well, and met him face to face on the sidewalk. "Well," she breathed uncomfortably, "I'd better go get some sleep." She looked up at him. "I've got to be up early, apparently."

Luke smiled warmly, looked at his feet and back up again. "Good night."

With a little reluctance, she turned toward the south row of barracks, "Good night." 

Luke started to watch her go, then looked at the concrete and started to stroll the other direction.

Kess stopped and spun around, "Um, Commander?"

Luke jerked to a stop. From Master, to Luke, to Commander, from the same person? Luke himself was getting a little confused.

"What's the uniform of the day in your Rogue Group?"

"Wear khakis, but bring a jumpsuit."

She turned away with an easy, "Yes, sir," and went home.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Morning muster always carried a distinct electricity in the moods of the service members on any pad, not just this one. But to Kess, Pad 14 was very different. None of the faces were familiar and none of the excited tales included anyone she knew. It was like catching a soap opera for the first time in the middle of a thick plot. Kess sat in the back of the muster room, trying to look unimportant and nonchalant. From across the giant audience, she saw Luke step in from the side door, chat quickly with a friend, and shoo the yeoman off the podium on the short stage. 

Everybody whooped out a mocking cheer.

Luke suppressed a shy grin and held up a hand to calm them down. Once the crowd had hushed to a certain level, a teasing voice rang out from the audience, "Commander? How is it that you always end up in Med Lab at the end of a 'vacation'?" A wave of chuckles rolled through the room. Luke ignored the comment and went straight to the business of running the top dog squadron of the New Alliance Fleet.

He was dressed in fresh pressed khakis, a uniform which she had not yet seen him in until today. Four blue dots on the silver square flaunted his Commander rank and, on the other foldless collar, he wore a not-so-arrogant Jedi pin. On one hip was a blaster and on the other hung his lightsaber. Kess noted that there were two personalities standing up there in that uniform. She smiled at her lap as she thought that there were really three, but the farm boy was simply not represented in his daily attire.

His muster consisted mostly of requesting status reports of the events during his absence and warning everyone to be prepared for maneuvers in short order. He concluded the monotone speech without even looking for her in the crowd, "Lt. Lendra, report to the managers' office immediately after muster. All others proceed to quarters. That is all." He patted the podium and turned away.

Over a hundred people stood up at once and began talking. Kess weaved through the crowd out the door and followed the wall to the managers' office. In proper military fashion, she waited just inside the door at parade rest, and watched the managers run in from the back, grab reports from their desks during happy and/or businesslike conversations, and buzz out the front door for group quarters. 

The manager's office had just enough space to fit five desks. On the left would sit the Wing Leader and Group Leader and on the right, just inside the discolored, transparisteel window, sat the Repair Supervisor and Repair Manager. At the far end, the most prominent desk in the room, was, of course, the Group Commander's.

Many of the stuffed shirts that sat at such a desk had medals and plaques hanging on the wall behind and as much of the name and title typed into the holographic nameplate as would fit, but not Luke. Except for a piece of paper that listed data codes tacked near his terminal, the wall was bare, and the holoplate glowed simply Skywalker.

A Captain with short black hair strutted in with Luke at his heals. The Captain wore a giddy smile as he was saying, ". . .it's not my fault you pick the weirdest places to go on vacation." The Captain plopped into the chair behind the Group Leader's desk and immediately began tapping away at the terminal.

Luke stepped behind the desk at the very end of the room, dropping his muster datapad, "Wedge, when was the last time I actually went on vacation?"

Captain Wedge Antilles paused, thought hard, and turned to Luke, "I can't say that you ever have."

Luke stepped over and slapped the man's back, "My case rests." Wedge simply shrugged and went back to his work. "Now, let's see if you kept on your toes while I was gone," he muttered as he plopped down in his chair and folded his hands on his desk. He looked straight at Kess for the first time today and held the stare as he announced much louder than he needed to, "Captain Antilles! I need a pilot roster and the latest histbat scores in one hour."

Wedge was sitting at his desk less than five feet away. He responded just as loud, without turning his head from his terminal. "Pilot roster and histbat scores, aye." 

Kess listened to this, noticing which faces perked to attention when Luke called them, but her eyes kept going back to his proud stare at her. It wasn't the power he was enjoying; it was the synergy.

"Captain Teik!" Skywalker called out again, "I need the pilots in full flight gear and mustered in one hour."

Teik shot a glance at Luke. The shimmering scales on the man's face seamed to prevent any expression. "Full flight gear and mustered, aye." He grabbed a datapad from his desktop and rushed from the room.

Luke looked thoughtfully at the Repair half of the room. Both desks were empty. The roll he was on stumbled to a squint. "Where's Neilson?"

Wedge was the only one left in the room to answer him besides Kess. "He's getting ship stats."

A gray-haired Lieutenant Commander with age lines in his deeply tanned face rushed into the room and stopped short when he saw the happily evil expression on Commander Skywalker's face. The sleeves of his grease-smeared khaki's were rolled up sloppily to his elbows, and in his arms he carried over a dozen beaten datapads. As he stared back at Luke, his frazzled expression soured and his tone was deeply sarcastic, "What?"

Luke told him with a little grin, "Maneuvers in one hour."

Neilson's eyes popped out of his head, "In an hour?"

Kess fought a snicker.

Luke raised his chin at Neilson. This should have been expected.

Neilson's eyes darted about as his mind began to panic.

Luke pointed across the room to Kess who was still standing at parade rest beside the door. "Lt. Commander Jer Neilson, Lt. Kess Lendra."

Neilson spun around and his panicky eyes smiled with relief. "Thank the Force." He muttered under his breath and dumped the datapads on the closest desktop. But instead of turning to her to shake her hand, or even say hello, he knelt in front of the desk, flipped open the side panel on the holoplate and cleared the name that was there. He looked up at her, "How do you spell it?"

Kess melted from parade rest and eyed Luke as she said in a single breath, "L-E-N-D-R-A. I was a _Floor Sup_ with Gold Group."

Luke leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, "When I asked to have you assigned to us, I was sort of killing two birds with one stone. So, you just got a promotion."

She eyed him from the side, trying to figure out whether to take this as a compliment or a curse.

"Lieutenant Lendra," The Commander part of Skywalker gave her a grin. "Maneuvers in one hour."

Her eyes widened. "In an hour?" Her teeth clenched to swear quickly. "Sheit-" She shuffled toward the desk and looked at Neilson and all his datapads.

Neilson stood up straight and put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her over to her new desk. "These are the Floor Sup reports. You do the ship stat report and I'll get them to ready the craft I know are okay. I'll introduce you to the gang after the pilots take off and I'll come in to look over the report before the pilot muster. Got it?"

Kess looked over the datapad pile on the desk and gave Neilson a pessimistic wince. With a friendly pat on her shoulder, Neilson left the room.

Luke chuckled and turned to his terminal. Kess eyed his back, growled, and shook her head. She pulled her chair up to the Repair Sup's desk and blew up at her bangs as she formulated a plan on getting a ship stat report done, from scratch, in an hour.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

No one stopped to listen what it said when knock off rattled over the loud speakers. The pad buzzed with a sudden recharge of activity and half the population of the base seemed to be on the streets by the time Kess strolled monotonously out to the sidewalk. The gas giant of Yavin glowed warmly over its jungle-thick, fourth moon and lit up the white sidewalks, brightened the green of the grass, and rose the humidity just enough to be a little uncomfortable.

Among the speeder-less masses on the sidewalk, Kess spotted Kaila and Joanne outside Complex A. She joined them with a forced smile and dug her fists into her pockets, "Hey girlies."

Kaila ran her fingers through her long hair and turned to Kess. "I thought you'd be training with the your Jedi Legend in the afternoons."

Kess shrugged again. "He'd already gone home. So, I'm going home to change and see if he shows." Her depression sounded clearly in her voice that she felt like she'd been stood up.

Joanne's dimple deepened in her right cheek. "So? How was you first day with the notorious Rogue Group?"

Kess suddenly whined, "He made me a Repair Supervisor!"

Kaila chuckled while she pulled her yellow blonde hair from their braids. Joanne searched Kess' expression, "That's good. Isn't it?"

Kess looked at her feet. She had been able to get the ship stat report done on time but she could hardly believe the contents of the report itself. Shorkey would have never let half those ships hit the air in that condition for a boring rover watch, much less historical combat maneuvers. Kess had neither the time nor status to argue that to Neilson or Luke, and simply let it pass. But she didn't think she'd ever feel comfortable about sending up a spacecraft without shields, for example.

Kaila was talking about a party coming up and Joanne was responding with excited nods. The pair strolled down the sidewalk and Kess sluggishly followed.

The airbrakes of a speeder roared to a stop right behind them. All three girlies, and every other pedestrian in the vicinity, jumped and spun around. Parked half way on the sidewalk was a glossy red Canali 250. The sport model had its top down and a beefy engine purred contentedly. Luke stood up in the drivers seat and propped his elbows on the windshield. He had taken a shower and changed into civvies. "Where do you think you're going?" His eyes smiled at her despite his growl.

Kess' face glowed. "Home to change. You left early so I-"

"Get in." He glanced at her friends behind her. "Hello."

Kaila's flirtatious voice sang through the air. "Good afternoon, Commander. I take it we'll be missing Kess for our evening meal?"

Joanne grumbled, "She's not missing much, Yana's cooking."

Luke's eyes fell on Kess again, "Coming?"

Kess waved a good-bye to her friends and they strolled away. She stepped to the passenger side of the vehicle but paused, "Shouldn't I get cleaned up first?"

Luke slid back into the driver seat and reached for the belts, "You're just going to get dirty again anyway."

Kess climbed in and complained as she pulled the belts over her shoulders. "But you got cleaned up."

Luke shifted into gear with a grin, "I'm not the apprentice," and hit the accelerator.

The Canali 250 jumped into traffic and zipped through the streets. Kess was white knuckled by the time he tore around the last corner at the edge of base, slowed just slightly to turn again onto a dirt road, and sped up even faster into the jungle. She glanced at him several times to see if he'd lost his mind, but his serious eyes flicked rapidly from the gauges to the bumpy road in front of him. Whether he was using the Force, or he already memorized the road, he seemed to prepare for every curve before it appeared in the trees in front of them. Kess caught a glimpse of the speedometer.

132 KPH.

The dirt road came out to a straight away aiming for Toban ridge and Luke just sped up. The rocky, one hundred meter cliff loomed closer and closer until Kess could see where the road came to a dead end. She sat there in breathless suspense until Luke finally slammed on the airbrakes and roared to a stop. The nose of the preciously expensive speeder was no more than two meters from the first giant boulder in the road.

Luke shut off the power and immediately hopped out, "Better work harder on that fear of yours." He popped open the trunk and dug his arms inside. "Next time I'll go faster."

Kess climbed out slowly and rubbed her hands together to get the blood pumping again. "Do you _fly_ like that?"

"Yeah," Luke handed her a paper bag and grinned arrogantly. "That's why I'm so good at it."

Kess groaned and followed him into the trees. He quickly moved along a footpath for a full minute until the jungle peeled away to a large fallen log and a small clearing beyond. The ridge loomed to the right and a large patch of grass filled the back half. Luke straddled the log and set down the duffel he was carrying. With a wave of his hand in the open air, he announced, "Jedi training grounds. What do you think?"

Kess stepped to the log with a smile. It was a peaceful hole in an otherwise wild jungle and it was beautiful. The birds chirped in the hardwood trees, the wind sang over the ridge and a stream whispered just out of sight. She saw the ground directly on the other side of the log was beaten into hard packed cement. Luke must come here a lot.

"This place is fantastic." She breathed, sitting down on the log with him. "How far way from base are we?"

Luke dug into the duffel and started pulling out portable kitchen gear as he spoke. "About thirty kilometers. You can still feel the base but it's far enough away that you don't overhear anybody's deep dark secrets. I decided it's a good place for you to make mistakes."

Kess started pulling out the packages of sauced meat cubes. "Do you always overhear secrets?"

Luke shook his head. "I turn it off most of the time. Why?"

Kess eyed him. "You heard my thoughts during debriefing."

"You said it. I wasn't listening for it. You need to pay closer attention to when you're using the Force. I hate to think what else you've been doing accidentally." His eyes looked up suddenly, "During the day, I want you to practice turning your senses off and on consciously. You'll gain more control over when you are using it." He set the small cooker in front of him and switched it on. 

Kess nodded silently.

"I looked at your security check again," he said pertly. "You're grandfather's name wasn't listed."

The gears started turning in Kess' head. Her grandfather was a nobody, it didn't matter who he was. "Really?" She fought a grin. "Then I guess you're going to have to figure out some way to get it out of me, aren't you?"

Luke put the metallic dish on top of it and watched the sauce begin to bubble. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"A fair trade." She crossed her arms. "Direct questions, direct answers. No beating around the bush and no lies and no It's a long story's."

Luke rocked his head aside, understanding the idea behind the game she was describing. 

Kess shrugged, "We're training, so I can ask you Jedi questions, right?"

Luke unzipped the drink box and sipped, "What do you want to know?" he asked solemnly.

Kess adjusted her arms and lowered her tone, convinced that she had the right to know anyway. "Vader."

Luke was deathly silent as he watched the take-out dinner slowly heat up between them. He glanced at her again. His voice was barely above a whisper. "It doesn't really matter who your grandfather was." 

The tone in his voice stabbed her in the heart and he could feel it. He poked at the cooking meat with a fork and handed her a clean fork and a drink, and finally, a square metal plate of food. 

She took them without looking him in the eye. She shrugged it off visibly, pretending it didn't hurt, which worked for most people, but not Luke Skywalker. 

Luke watched her eat with a solemn expression on her face. A gust of the sweet jungle breeze blew a blonde wisp of hair across a blushed cheek and she brought up a naked fingernail to pull it away. She licked a drop of red sauce from her lip and brown eyes looked at him curiously. "How long is this training going to take?"

Luke swallowed hard and yanked his eyes back to his plate, "Not long, I hope." He muttered and then spoke a little louder, sticking his foot in his mouth. "Six months more maybe. I don't know. I've never done this before."

Kess got the impression that Luke didn't want her there and that this training was simply a monkey wrench in the gears of his lifestyle. She looked away and kept eating silently, again unsure where she stood with him. 

It bugged her. 

A lot.

"The training will include several tests," he explained as he ate. "You've already passed the first one: how you respond in action. But the rest will be more specific. All those dark clouds of emotion you have represent certain, what's the term, open issues? You'll have to face every last one of them. Your fear of your father, for example. It won't go away until you face your father and neutralize what ever it is that you fear from him."

Kess stopped chewing, and assumed that, since Luke watched her, he probably saw exactly why she feared her father. "And how am I supposed to do that?" 

Luke met her stare, "That is entirely up to you. . . but you do have to do it. I won't send you unprepared. Believe me, I want you to pass all this as much as you do."

Kess took a deep breath and nodded silently. 

Luke saw her face and decided to it was time for a change of subject. "And to prevent mishaps like this afternoon, we'll set up a training schedule. After knock off, go home, get changed, eat dinner, and then meet me at my barracks by 1700. We'll leave for training from there."

Her lip curled, "Everyday?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, I was hoping to get back into fencing class on Tuesday's. The girlies and I have Deli Night on Wednesdays and I do gymnastics on Thursdays. Then of course you have Friday and Saturday nights which are a another ball of wax entirely-"

"Kesselia, _every day_. The more often you train the sooner you'll get through it."

Kess really didn't care if half her schedule was canceled to be alone with Luke in the jungle, but she also didn't want him to get in the habit that she'd be at his beck and call either. "Just because you don't have a social life doesn't mean you've got to make me suffer."

Luke grinned, "You think you suffer now. . .?" He chuckled at her, stuffed his last bit into his mouth and put down his dish. "I'll make a deal with you. I know how important Deli Night is to you, so you go have fun with your friends on Wednesdays. And you can have either Friday or Saturday night off depending on what you have planned. But every morning you will run and all other evenings are for training. Is that fair?"

Kess nodded in agreement, "And the weekend days?"

Luke dug into his bag again and pulled out a small mechanical ball. "I'm going to put you to work on the weekends." He stood and grinned fiendishly, "You are going to help me get through all those records from Dalthomir." 

Kess groaned and hurried up to finish her plate. He let the remote hang alone in the air and held out his hand to her, "May I see your lightsaber?"

She gave it to him and watched. He turned it on, looked it over, and admired the weight of it in his grip. He tested it by touching the tip of the blade to the hard packed dirt. The cement-like ground melted around it like it was mud and left a permanent recess in the flat surface. "Not bad."

She'd kept a close eye on it since she had built it. For a month, it had rarely left her possession and even then it was hidden and/or locked up. It was weird to see it in someone else's hand. Until now, the last living lightsaber guru hadn't blessed her new toy. She took his satisfied nod as his blessing. 

He switched it off and handed it back. Luke stepped to the remote and smiled, "Ready?"

Kess sat down her plate and stood, stepping shyly forward with it and nodded. 

He reached for the remote, activated it and backed far away from the spinning ball as it searched for a target. "Lightsaber training, lesson one: Getting shot at. . .."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

**Link net channel \ 721AF83 \ intersystem node 4F3**

**Linkup net channel \72AF83 ****. . .**** Linked**

**Enter access code: 54622337F**

**Matching ****. . .**** access code accepted.**

**Welcome to the Imperial Regional Governmental Network**

**Access Frakkan Mail System \ Mugwot Pon \ MUGP77222@FRAKAN.NET**

**Enter access code for Frakkan Mail System: 9954745456**

**Frakkan Mail System \ Mugwot Pon**

**You have0 mail messages**

**Compose new mail**

**TO:Governor Levilot \ NET: GLEV00001@FRAKAN.NET**

**FR:Mugwot Pon \ NET: MUGP77222@FRAKAN.NET**

**Message:**

**Target returned. Training resumed. Position secure. Opportunities available. Team awaits orders.**

**End of message.**

**Scramble at 7.632 using code omektako**

**Message scrambled.**

**Send.**


	3. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14******

A day's worth of dirty clothes were draped across the unmade bed and wadded on the floor. Only the desk lamp in the corner lighted the bedroom. Wearing only sweat shorts and a tank top, Kess sat sideways in the chair with her elbow on the desk and her feet propped up on a dresser drawer that hung awkwardly open. Her intense reading paused when her eyes started to drift closed.

A knock on the door shook her out of her nap. She pulled her feet down to sit up straight. "Come in."

Kaila slinked in the door with a grin on her made up face. She was dressed to impress in perfectly casual attire. "Hey girly, I figured you'd be up."

Kess blinked away the sleep. "You either had a date or a job interview." She glanced at the time. "Date."

Kaila plopped onto the ruffled bed, bursting with giddiness. "A date you would not believe." 

Kess let a smile creep to her lips. "Did you get laid?"

"No."

Kess raised a brow and then turned to her desk, "Your right, I don't believe it."

"Guess who it was with," Kaila dared.

Kess shrugged as she tidied the datacards on her desk, "I don't know. Han Solo?"

Kaila curled her lip and whined. "No. Get real. C'mon gimme a real guess."

She turned around in her chair to look at her friend and really put a moment's thought into it. "I don't know. Who?"

"Rett D'monck."

Kess' eyes popped out of her head. "My Rett?" Kaila nodded with tongue in cheek. "My fencing partner Rett?" Kess clarified again. Kaila bit her tongue in a proud smile. Kess' disbelief sobered with respect to her friend. "Nice catch."

Kaila sat up again. "I could listen to that accent all night long."

"I take it you had a good time?"

"Yeah," she said eagerly, "Want to hear about it?"

With a sigh Kess shook her head, motioning to the datapad she was reading. "I do. I really do. But Luke wants me to get through this chapter before training tomorrow."

Kaila tried to hide the disappointment from her expression. "What are you reading?"

Kess tossed it onto the desk with another tired sigh. "The Bundah Cult: Section 3, Relaxation Techniques for Effective Meditation."

Kaila nearly laughed, "He's going to make you a Bundah believer now?"

Joann suddenly called to them from the living room, "Kess come here, quick." There really wasn't a tone of urgency in Joanne's voice, so they didn't hurry all that much.

"No," Kess answered Kaila as they stood, "He just doesn't have that much Jedi stuff for me to read."

Kaila snorted on their way to the living room, "As if you had the spare time to read anything."

Kess didn't hear her. Her eyes were stuck to the light of the vid that Joanne had been watching. The announcer on the info report had Luke's picture behind his shoulder. "… able to confirm with Commander Skywalker yesterday…." 

The screen flicked to a shot inside the council building where the reporters apparently caught Luke on the way out of a Council Meeting. "Commander Skywalker, is it true that you have taken on your first Jedi Apprentice?"

Luke patiently and expressionlessly folded his hands behind his back. "Yes." 

"And when will we be able to interview Lieutenant Lendra?"

He caught his breath a little and gave Wubak a small grin, "I'll have to get back to you on that. Excuse me."

The vid cut back to the announcer, now with Kess' picture behind his shoulder. "With the Empire's borders receding and the Jedi power in the New Alliance growing, we have a new hope for the end of this civil war…. In other news today…"

Kaila turned to Kess and opened her mouth. Joann turned on the couch to speak as well.

The comm beeped.

All three women turned to the comm terminal in silence. 

It beeped again.

Joann lowered her voice, "I'm only guessing, but I think its for you."

Kess moved to the comm terminal. Joanne muted the vid and Kaila sat down at the couch. 

"Hello?"

Leia's face flickered on the screen. "Hi, Kess. I'm glad your up."

Kess shifted in the chair, "Counselor… I think you were the last person I expected to hear from right now."

Leia gave her an understanding eye. "Did you see the info report?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Has anyone requested an interview yet?"

"No." She leaned her elbows on the desk. 

"Well, if they do, " Leia sighed deeply as she thought, "turn them down. I'd like to have a little training of Politically Correctness and New Alliance Security added to your curriculum before you do any interviews."

Kess nodded. "I understand. What should I tell them if they ask?"

"Tell them your too busy with your training and duty." She smiled, "I know it wouldn't be lying."

She smiled tiredly, "No, it wouldn't."

"On another topic, Minister of State Dell' André has just announced his retirement… but that won't hit the news until tomorrow."

Kess' jaw dropped, "The Minister of State is retiring?! Why?"

"He's been fighting for the rebellion for over thirty years. I called because I want you at his retirement ceremony." 

Kess cracked a grin, "Should I take that Politically Correctness class before the ceremony?"

Leia smiled back, "You'll have Luke and I there to make sure your don't step on your tongue."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good night." Leia's face flickered away.

Kess leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

Kaila got up from the couch. "And I thought my date was something to talk about."

Kess was lost in thought about the picture of her that the reporters got a hold of without her realizing it. She climbed out of the chair and looked at the time, then patted Kaila once on the shoulder. "I'm glad you and Rett had fun. Tell him I said hi next time you see him…. I'm going to bed."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Lt. Lendra had positively determined that Rogue Group wasn't the best squadron in the fleet as much as it was the biggest collection of broken X-wings she had ever seen. By Friday of her first week, Kess was fighting to keep from losing her temper. 

"You are sending up an X-wing without shields or backup life support systems?!" Enraged arms flailed through the air at Neilson as the Ready Team approached the craft in question for refuel and re-oil. Wisps of dirt and sweat ridden hair came out of her braids in all directions and a large grease smudges streaked her forearms where the sleeves of her coveralls had been hastily rolled up.

Neilson turned to her with an equally dirty uniform and hardened eyes. "Kess, if we had the time to fix them, we would." He motioned to the Ready Team to ignore their argument and keep working. "The Commander wants everything that flies, he gets everything that flies."

Kess put one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead, reminding herself to remain calm or Master Luke would storm out of the muster room and remind her to. She lowered her voice, "If Rogue Nine gets hit upper aft, she's out for the count and we'll have to send a rescue team up to get the pilot." 

Neilson turned his back to her and stormed to the next X-wing in the parking lot for review, but Kess huffed after him, clenching her fists and yelling above the noise. 

Kess rose her voice in exasperation, "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, Jer, but seventy-eight percent of the time, a one-man craft is his in the _aft_,/i."

Neilson stopped, grabbed a datapad from a repair grunt and turned to Kess. "Look, I sympathize with you. Hell, I agree with you! If we could ground these babies for three weeks we could catch up with repairs and raise the clearing standards. But we can't. Commander Skywalker knows the condition of his ships and he still requests everything that flies."

The next Ready Team began rolling up the equipment to refuel and re-oil Rogue Fourteen. Kess ducked under the nose to step out of the way, and crossed her arms. "So ground them! Losing three weeks of maneuvers is not going to hurt pilot training or galactic peace. If one of those pilots gets hurt because of a faulty craft, its your hide that goes to the Admiral's office to be fried, not Luke's!"

Neilson clenched his teeth, stepped forward to her and lowered his voice to nearly a whisper, "Listen to me, Lieutenant. You may have been hand picked for this spot, but just because you're up close and personal with the Commander does not mean you get special privileges. The golden rule of Rogue Group is that Commander Skywalker gets exactly what he asks for. You'd better start following this golden rule and stop trying to piss him off."

A single eyebrow rose, "Luke doesn't get pissed off."

"All it takes is once and that guy will be kneeling to the Empire and blowing up planets left and right. I'm not gonna argue with you right now. I have a squadron to get in the air in less than ten minutes and my Repair Supervisor is _not helping_! We can debate over this later, okay? Go ready the group!" Neilson marched down the row of X-wings with his fists clenched. 

Kess followed him, watching at least two bodies attending to each craft in a dreadful hurry. Kess yelled out, "Airman, get that ladder to Rogue Six." The airman roughly slammed the fuel port shut and raced to the ladder.

Neilson took the ready list from one of the Floor Sups and combed his dirty fingers into his equally dirty bangs. "Damn, Seidrik's out today. D'you know Flight Ops, Kess?"

Kess slumped her shoulders, "Yeah, but it's been awhile."

Neilson gave her a grin, "It's just like riding a spooner. The gear's in cabinet… and Flight Ops boards the Group Leader, too."

"I know, I know." Kess passed him and crossed the landing pad to the wall. She pulled open the hinged wall panel and started the sequence that would open the bay doors. When the red lights began to flash and the buzzer sounded in a loud, annoying tone, the olive drab ants swarmed faster over the dirty metallic birds. Kess lifted the mike from the wall and her voice carried out over the entire pad. "Rogue repair, man all readied craft for pilot boarding."

The giant pad door overhead ground stone against stone as it slid aside and let the humidity and sunlight pour into the pad. As soon as the sequence was complete, Kess swung the panel door shut and moved to a cabinet to dig out the Flight Ops gear. 

Kess felt like they were under attack and they were only going up for routine histbat maneuvers. 

All of Rogue Group personnel were in, on, or near an X-wing trying to get it ready and boarded before Flight Ops got cleared for launch. 

Twenty-seven pilots came trotting out of the muster room in bright red orange T-suits. The drag runner had just finished pulling up Rogue Two to the landing pad. Several bodies pounced the beaten craft as soon as it stopped moving. Kess was actually impressed with the speed of these guys. Wedge had already emerged from the muster room, but by the time he got to the ladder, Rogue Two was ready for him to board. The Repair group was fast and unusually accurate for their speed. If they would just stand up to Luke about the clearing standards, they'd be the best.

Shaking her head at the impossible situation, she hooked the mouse ear style headphones around her neck and hooked the Flight Ops comm unit to her utility belt right next to her lightsaber. She quickly turned around to run to Rogue Five, but the action swung her lightsaber into the comm unit and activated the lethal amber blade for a brief second. 

Several bodies froze and looked when the _snap-vroom_ sounded for an instant. The blade shot out of the hilt from her waist and seared a hole into the cement floor at least an inch deep. "Son-of-a-!" Kess growled out. 

She ripped the lightsaber from her belt and hooked it to her other hip. She ignored the several deep sighs from the various pilots and repair grunts and cussed under her breath towards Rogue Five and its pilot. 

Commander Skywalker sputtered into laughter as his apprentice huffed across the landing pad to him. "Keep your temper," he sang. 

She glared at him, snatching his helmet and the ready list from his hand, "Yes, _Master_." She had tools, the comm unit, and a lightsaber hanging from her hips, datacards in the dozens of pockets in her coveralls, mouse ears around her neck, wires plugging this into that, and the helmet and ready list in her hands. Juggling all this equipment was not a graceful endeavor with her so frustrated and hurried.

Luke chuckled at her, obviously comfortable with taking his time even though everyone else was panicking to please him. "You know, if you keep the saber switch on the lock-off position, it won't do that."

Kess waved an impatient hand at the ladder, "Would you please just get into your ship."

Luke smiled wider as pulled himself up the ladder and gave Artoo a friendly greeting. The droid beeped back from his socket saying hello to Luke and reminding Kess to be more careful.

Kess followed Luke up the steps, giving him enough room to climb into the cockpit before she rose to the top, and told Artoo to shut up. She wrapped one elbow around the ladder railing and got semi-comfortable to brief the pilot. 

Kess brought up a datapad and turned to the page on Rogue Five's ship stats and began to read. "Okay. You've got a weld patch on your starboard coolant line but that shouldn't give you any problems. Your port thruster has a weak link so as long as you don't fly in circles clockwise more than five times in a row, you'll be fine." She looked up to find him grinning back.

"Got any more advice?" he teased.

"Yeah," she retorted, "Don't get shot."

Luke smiled and reached a hand out for his helmet. "You know, you really should work on that attitude."

Kess gave him his helmet, "Well, you look frumpy in that color."

He slid the helmet over his blonde hair and looked at her as he secured it to the neck of the T-suit, "You're obstinate."

"You're pigheaded," she returned, checking the straps at his chest. 

Luke's gloved hands punched at the buttons in the cockpit without looking. The X-wing clicked, and began to whine in a high pitch. He was still grinning from behind the yellow visor, "Must you always have the last word?"

Kess hit the canopy lever inside the cockpit and pulled her hands from the craft. "Yes." She said and shimmied down the ladder. She yelled out just before the canopy closed down over the cockpit, "One, One!" and pulled the ladder away from the X-wing.

Luke shook his head from behind the transparisteel in unfair defeat and turned his attentions to the cockpit controls.

Kess stepped to the side where she could plug into the Flight Ops jack. She had mouse ears over her own, the mike hovering next to her lips, and the switch under her thumb. She activated the comm unit. The static could barely be heard over the high whine of Rogue Two and Five powering up. She watched olive drab bodies peel away from most of the craft as she adjusted squelch and volume to hear the Control Tower. 

Every pilot in every craft and every pad on all of Yavin 4 heard every word. So did anyone else who had plugged in to join the fun like the Control Tower gang, various members of Repair on the different Pads, and probably an Admiral or two. All the speech was monotone, whether it was official conversation or not. Even the greetings and 'have a nice flight's' were stale and flat with the boredom of routine. Kess logged on with the same tone of voice. "Control, Rogue Flight; Request for group launch. Over."

And she recognized Joanne's voice immediately, "Rogue Flight, Control; Hold please. Over." It would figure that she'd be on duty when Kess had to do Flight Ops.

Kess smiled at the irony, "Control, Rogue Flight; Holding aye."

Joanne had to finish her business with Gold group before she could clear Rogue Group. "Gold Flight, Control. Three and seven clear for launch. Over."

Kess already knew who was running Flight Ops in Gold Group and squeezed her eyes shut tight when she heard Kaila's voice. "Control, Gold Flight; Three and seven are go and that completes the launch for Gold group. Have a nice flight folks."

They used to joke about it. The girlies had finally rendezvoused on Radio Free Yavin.

"Control, Gold Leader; Gold group has cleared ozone. Over."

Joanne's voice was still monotone. "Gold Leader, Control; Ozone cleared, aye. Have a good day, sir. Over."

But Kaila's voice was holding back a giggle, "Control, Gold Flight; Would Radio Free Yavin like to hear a good joke? Over."

She could hear the smile in Joanne's voice, "Gold Flight, Control; Good joke clear for launch. Over."

Kess stuttered and tried to stop the harassment before Kaila got herself in trouble, but knew her fate was under the whims of the Control Tower. "Control, Rogue Flight; Rogue Group is still waiting for launch. Over."

Kaila spat it out before she could be interrupted, "What's the difference between a boy Jedi and a girl Jedi?"

Wedge's eyes were wide open, and shot out a warning into the mike, "Gold Flight, Rogue Two; _Both_ Jedi _are_ the air! Over."

Kaila wouldn't let up, "One has to use the Force to keep it up; the other has to use the Force to keep it down."

There was a pause of static on the air as everyone was either laughing too hard or too shocked to talk. Kess looked up at Luke who was obviously ready to hang the entire Flight Operations Department. 

She held up a hand to assure that she would tend to the scolding herself. He closed his mouth and rested an elbow on the side of his cockpit in impatience. She thought for a brief moment and realized that she couldn't pass up this wonderful opportunity to get Luke's goat, "Gold Flight, Rogue Flight. You've got it backwards. The girl Jed-"

Luke shouted into the mic, "_Cease_ and desist all non-official communications. Control Tower, carry out launching procedures, now! Over."

Joanne's voice suddenly went monotone again, "Rogue Flight, Control; two and five cleared for launch. Over."

And so did Kess', "Control, Rogue Flight; two and five go."

Kaila was still too bold for her own good and still trying to hold back her giggle when she softened the insult a little by pointing out to Luke that she was just teasing. "Rogue Leader, Gold Flight; Have a good day, sir! Over and out."

Neilson stomped up to Kess and held out a hand. As Luke and Wedge disappeared into the sky, Kess handed over the flight ops gear so Neilson could take care of the rest of it himself. She didn't find out until later that Kaila and Joanne had been just as quickly relieved of duty.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

High above the tallest building, the Control Tower could see everything on the base. Even one floor beneath the busy Flight Operations Tower, Captain Ianaka's office had a wall of windows and a beautiful view of the six complexes and the Council Building. But Captain Ianaka wasn't looking at it, she was yelling as she paced across the floor in front of her desk. 

Commander Tolgray wasn't looking at it either, he was leaning up against a bookcase with his arms folded at his chest and a stressed out stare at the floor. The people who were looking at the view were staring at it in stone cold military fashion as they stood at a crisp parade rest next to each other. Ensign Joanne Peircy, Lieutenant Junior Grade Kaila Korbosi, and Lieutenant Kess Lendra were too busy getting their butts chewed out to notice any view. 

The door slid open and Luke stepped in silently, listening to the Captain scream as he stepped into view of the women.

"I am going to put all three of you on report for this. Ensign Peircy, that's two you have now for misconduct on the air. One more and you will be turning in your khaki's for dungarees. I promise you that."

Kess wasn't sure if it was Luke's arrival or the threat to lose her commission that made the panic pour out of Joanne's heart. 

"And you Lieutenant JG, I hope I never hear a casual comment out of your mouth on my channel again!"

"She's going on suspension," Commander Tolgray said. He stood tall and faced Kaila, "She is going to have to earn her Flight Ops Certificate from scratch and then she's going to teach a class on proper conduct on open airways."

Kaila's shoulders melted a little until she realized it at sucked in a breath, and her gut again.

The room went quiet for a moment as Captain Ianaka and Commander Tolgray ran out of things to threaten them with. The Captain turned to Luke who was staring at the three women in disappointment. "They're all yours, Commander."

Luke inhaled and held it for a long moment. The three women seemed to hold their breath with him. Joanne, he could feel, was about to break down into tears. Kaila was pissed because she got suspended for such a little offense, but Kess was ready to take any punishment they gave her. She was only afraid of Luke's disappointment. 

Luke spoke carefully, quietly, and slowly. "The New Alliance needs Jedi Knights to fight the Empire. But it also needs Jedi Knights to strengthen the government from within. If there are bad jokes and slander running around the grapevine, we aren't going to be able to strengthen anything but the basis for scandals." He looked directly into Kaila's when he said it. 

She swallowed hard.

He continued. "I am trying to rebuild an entire guild by myself. I need you to restrain talk that would look negatively on the Jedi. There is too much opportunity for casual comments or jokes to be misunderstood. If the public settles on a misconception, whether it's true or not, my work is for naught." He paused a long second. "And I'm not just talking about comments on the Ops channel. I'm talking about the locker room, the commlink, and the Mash Pit. . . . Is that understood?"

"Yes, Commander," all three of them muttered humbly.

Captain Ianaka hissed at Joanne, "Report to your station." Joanne nearly fell over herself to march out of the room. Commander Tolgray gave Kaila a similar order and gave a nod to Commander Skywalker as he followed the Lieutenant JG out to the hall. Captain Ianaka took one look at Luke, who was still staring at his Repair Supervisor, and muttered, "Take as much time as you need, Commander," as she shut her office door behind her.

Kess was intently staring out the window long after the room went empty and silent. It seemed a safe place for her eyes to be. Her soul was shut tight so he couldn't feel her fear on the Force and to distract her senses so she couldn't feel the anger from him. 

But Luke could easily sense through the novice-blocking attempt to find her already sufficiently guilty and ashamed about the incident. It bothered him though that she still feared and exploding, dark sided reaction from him. In his thoughts, he didn't realized how long he'd been staring at her in silence.

As if the anticipation imploded on her, her eyes finally flicked to him to see the look on his face. His eyes were cold, unfriendly, and gravely disappointed. Her Force block fell away and her eyes flicked to the ground, completely crushed.

Luke realized that he didn't have to say or do anything to discipline her. She had already done enough on her own. 

He whispered, "dismissed," on his way out to the door.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

In the midst of empty space, a massive Imperial fleet floated in a busy cluster. Within a nest of other Star Destroyers, Imperial Gunboats, and roving TIE fighters, the Star Destroyer Vengeance floated arrogantly directing them all. From his private chambers, Supreme Prophet Kadaan looked proudly out over his growing fleet. 

The guards, led by a stiff faced Admiral Cheenan, ushered in a beaten but proud body into the room. Governor Levilot's shoulders were rigid and square. His lips were drawn to a thin line, an old dribble of blood crusted on the corner of his mouth. Bitter eyes drilled into robed figure that approached him.

Supreme Prophet Kadaan swooped his arms around in regal movements as he turned to drag the long black robe behind him. His facial features were too large for his height. Intense eyes shined royal blue and thinning, fraying, long hair was as yellow as a sunflower. He had a giant, round-tipped nose and short teeth in his smile. He strolled up to the Governor, evilly pleased and devious. "My dear Governor Levilot," he said in a low voice. "I understand you have located my Usak for me."

The Governor swallowed dryly, "We don't know-"

Cheenan sailed his hand across the Governor's face. Levilot's head whipped aside. "You were not requested to speak." Cheenan hissed. Levilot turned and glared at him. Cheenan waited anxiously for another reason to hit the man.

"Now, now, my boy." Kadaan's pleasantries were seething with malevolence as he regally stepped away from them. "Let us show hospitality to the Governor." Kadaan sat down and draped his long sleeves across the arms of the command chair. "He has been a valuable asset."

Levilot glared at Kadaan again, hating the Prophet with everything he was worth. Sultani had been such a beautiful city.

"What Admiral Cheenan did was only fair." Kadaan assured. "Sultani was your punishment for your acts of high treason. You located the Usak for me, but you didn't turn her over to me." His voice suddenly boomed out to echo against the walls, "Why?!"

Governor Levilot shifted his eyes to Cheenan and back. "It was not confirmed that she was the Usak you were looking for. I did not want to hinder Your Excellency with a questionable target."

"I see." Kadaan hissed disbelieving. "And how did you find my Usak in the first place?"

Levilot gritted his teeth. "Your description and the guidance from our book of scriptures gave us enough information to launch an investigation."

Kadaan raised a yellow eyebrow. Then he quickly got out of his chair with an open-mouthed smile. "And do you still have your investigators investigating?"

Levilot's mind shot to the spies he still had on Yavin 4. He suddenly feared for their safety. 

Before he could speak, Kadaan nodded. "I see that you do." His blue eyes narrowed in warning, "If you give us access to your investigators…. I will reward you by not destroying the rest of your precious planet."

Levilot hissed, "You do not have a Death Star to threaten me with."

"No. That's true." Kadaan said thinking then looked him casually, "But I have a fleet of Star Destroyers right here, just _itching_ for something to do."

Levilot thought long and hard as he looked into the eyes of the Supreme Prophet. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the forbidding fleet outside the window. He would do anything to protect the lives of his people, but a few people would protect the lives of millions. He whispered roughly, "The code name is Mugwot Pon. They send mail messages to my private in box using code ometako."

Kadaan smiled yellowed teeth, and somehow, Levilot knew that his spies weren't the only sacrifices he would make today. 

Kadaan turned away, giving Cheenan and approving nod. With a greedy smile, Cheenan ignited his lightsaber, and in one, swift movement, he sliced Governor Levilot's body completely in half.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess and Neilson finally got the chance to talk about the clearing standards. They came up with a conservative four-week plan for the entire group to be grounded for overhauls and repairs. After that, Repair would just have to fix things as they broke, rather than frantically patch up old problems. Kess offered to be the one to stand up against the Commander and assured Neilson that Luke wouldn't lose his lid when he saw the ship stat report. After a lot of convincing, Neilson finally agreed to the plan, but his deciding factor was that Rogue Repair would actually get the opportunity to catch up.

Since Luke already told her to separate Jedi Training from Group Operations, even in casual conversation, she didn't mind not saying anything about the grounding plan during Minister Dell' André's short retirement ceremony. He would find out Monday morning when the ship stats report was due. Besides, she felt in enough trouble already because of the Flight Ops joke and didn't want to make matters even worse. 

Her discomfort was still paralyzing all other emotions when she was following him back to the clearing that afternoon. The birds chirped brightly and the sun beamed down through the trees. Luke stepped over the fallen log and, strangely, just kept walking.

Kess paused, "Where are you going?"

"We're going on a hike," he said with his back to her and moved into the bushes at the far end. 

Kess hesitated then trotted to catch up. He moved at a pretty fast clip. Kess had to almost jog to keep up with his long-legged stride. She worked extra hard to keep up in fear of setting off the scolding she didn't get that afternoon. She started paying more attention to the branches in her path and the spiders she was trying to avoid than her emotional state or her attempts to block them.

"You are practically glowing in the dark with your fear of me right now," he warned loudly.

Kess' stride skipped a beat as she stared at his back. 

He stopped and half turned to her. "And you didn't block if very well in the Captain's office either."

He met her eyes for a moment and then let his drift closed. She felt his touch on the Force, careful and deliberate. He reached into her heart and flexed the mental muscle that shielded her colorful cloud from escaping. Kess' eyelids dropped to concentrate on it and she firmed up that muscle beyond what she thought was its capability. 

As soon as she had it in place, he pulled his thoughts away. "For the rest of today, try to block as much as you can." He turned back to the imaginary path and started hiking again. 

"'kay." She said quietly and started following him again, even more embarrassed for having her fear pointed out to her so casually.

"Now," he said in stiff casualness, "I want you to tell me about your friends."

Her eyes flicked to his back for a moment, "What do you want to know?"

He pushed a branch out of his way and let it go, letting it swing nearly into her face. "Why does Kaila have such and attitude?"

Kess caught the branch and looked at his back indignantly. "Don't know. I've know her for three years and she's always been that way." She nearly stumbled over a patch of loose rocks. "I guess it's just the effects of living on a slave supply system in the Empire."

"Where is she from?"

"The Wequi system."

"Is she single?"

Kess stopped in her tracks. The hate and jealousy spiked in her heart until she could take a breath and get control of it. 

Luke stopped and looked back at her.

"Uh, sorta. I know she's dating my ex-fencing partner, but I doubt it's exclusive yet." She answered solemnly and hiked a few more feet. But he hadn't moved. She avoided his eyes.

"I could have detected that one from the next quadrant." When she looked up, he had, just barely, an arrogant grin.

Kess slammed her mental muscle down tighter. 

Luke turned again and started walking. They had reached the base of Toban Ridge where giant boulders littered the floor of the jungle. The jagged shape of one of the shield generator units huddled among the brush not far beyond. Luke led a zigzag path through the boulder as if he were aiming to climb up the cliff itself. His tone was back to the casual conversation. "Think you can get me a date with her?"

That stung Kess' very core and she let it sting as long as she didn't lose her mental grip on the block. She was uncomfortable about this whole conversation. She reminded herself that she didn't have a right to be.

Luke stopped again and turned. "Much better."

He watched her hike a few more paces to him and stop where he stopped, but she didn't look at him at all as if the sting would still show in her eyes. 

"Kess!" He said loudly as if he were trying to wake her up. When she looked up, he gave her an easy, sympathetic smile. "I don't want to date Kaila," he assured her as if the whole idea was ridiculous in the first place.

She looked away and inhaled the sting away, not sure which statement was true. "Your sex life is none of my business," she told him like she didn't care and passed him on the trail and kept on hiking. 

The hum of the shield generator unit vibrated her bones as they passed it several meters away. In only a few steps she found she was at a dead end without climbing onto the boulders that were slightly taller than her height. 

She heard the air brush passed her and his boots clomp on the rock, and then he was in front of her, on top of the six-foot tall boulder she was facing. 

"Yeah, but," he said as he reached down a hand to help her up, "by the time I get one, it will be."

He looked at her in the eye and gave her a quiet smile. She took his hand and climbed clumsily up the rock face. When she stood tall next to him, she started to ask-

Luke shook his head and turned away, "On second thought, don't ask me what that was supposed to mean." 

Kess watched his back as he started hopping along the tops of the boulders to continue the hike. As she started moving to follow him, she reluctantly grinned.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess adjusted her baggy white tunic and dusted the lint from the black tank top as she stepped from the elevator. The early dawn of Saturday felt like fresh peace in the barracks and her ankle boots seemed to click loudly on the flat stone tile. She stopped at the last door on the left, raised her chin, and reached for the door buzzer-

The door swished aside.

Her gasp of surprise relaxed to sarcasm and she wondered how far away she had been when he first sensed her approach. Kess dropped her hand and stepped into the immaculate barracks apartment. Luke sat in his comfortable chair and tossed a datapad onto the drink table. "Good morning." He wore a neatly tucked, pale blue shirt, and faded denim fit snugly over perfectly formed thighs. Her eyes landed on bare feet propped arrogantly on the drink table. It was the most casual attire she'd ever seen him wear and he was still neat and tidy.

"Good morning," she told him, glancing casually around.

The apartment was the same layout as any other two bedroom barracks, yet Kess knew immediately that Luke's only roommate was Artoo. The place was spotless and void of the usual customizing. The furniture was standard black couches and off-white carpet, with black lacquer table and desk at the far end. He had only one small picture on the wall: a red-gold, double sunset over the Dune Sea on Tatooine. She wondered where all his medals were.

Luke pulled his feet from the table and stood. He passed her to the kitchen and pulled out a clean glass for her. "Want a drink?"

"Not if you're going to try to give me hydrate." Kess held up a six-pack of blue plastic bottles that she had carried in with her. "Sweetwater tastes better." Luke watched her help herself to his icebox and rummage for space for her sweetwater. When she stood tall again, she took a swig out of one of the bottles. "You didn't run this morning. What happened?"

Luke put the glass away. "You've been complaining so much about getting up early so I decided to try to sleep in and see what I was missing." 

Kess leaned her elbows onto the counter and grinned at him, "Well, how was it?"

"It wasn't worth it," he said with a shy grin.

She snickered at him, "You probably weren't doing it right." 

"Did you run without me?" 

Her eyes rolled, "Yes, Master."

Luke's smile grew slightly as he strolled into a bedroom. "Good girl." 

She peered into the open bedroom door and found it had been converted to a study. Stacks and stacks on ancient tape-reel style datacards cluttered a terminal desk next to a five foot tall, second rate, data base module. One wall was filled with a black lacquer center fitted with an Orob-lam Terminal. Only a few stacks of records fitted into its various cubbyholes. A rectangular wooden table was pushed against another wall where at least twelve stacks were already sorted and awaiting to be downloaded. At the far end of the room were the remaining boxes that hadn't even been opened yet.

"The Jedi records from Dalthomir." She muttered as she stepped into the den behind him. "You'd think they'd give the only Jedi Knight an office in the Council Building." she retorted. He had already shown her a few documents one day just before they left for the clearing, but he still had to explain his methods of organizing and downloading the ancient tape reel datacards. Kess joined him just inside the door and overlooked the amount of work to do. "Can't Artoo help with this?" She sneered.

Luke blinked out of his deep thought. "Actually, he helps a lot. He downloads the tapes I've already sorted, but we have to sort them so we can pick out the clues on instructions and so forth. He's off doing droid things with Threepio, so I'll download today."

"I see." Kess stepped deeper into the room. "So what exactly are we looking for to set aside?" Setting down her bottle on the table, she sat casually in the chair and awaited the instruction.

Luke blinked, "Um, all right." He pulled up the terminal chair and sat in it, facing her. Reaching for a thin, scratched datacard to use as the first example, he began, "It's a thankless job, but I guess there's got to be some drawbacks to being a Jedi." He leaned an elbow in on the table right next to her and casually explained his process of identifying and sorting out the different types of records.

Kess' secondary attention was hearing the instruction. Her primary focus was on the playful sound of his voice, the muscles moving in his jaw, and the faint scent of cologne she could only detect when he was sitting this close. She watched the blue of his eyes dart from the stacks, to the database, barely glance at her, and back again. 

She realized that, alone, he laughed aloud, raised his voice, and showed signs of frustration. He didn't show so much emotion while they ran on the grinder or on Pad 14. Kess wondered why he acted so much more human while no one was looking, and therefore wondered if she should have been doing the same thing as well.

". . .and all the other files go in that stack." His eyes finally landed on her, "We'll eat here for lunch and I'll order in whatever you want for dinner. Sound good?"

"No." She said quickly.

Luke blinked. It had taken guts to sneak that last line into the conversation and a lot of acting to make it sound completely innocent. He thought she'd jump for it. "No? What part?"

"The dinner part. I get a weekend night off, remember-"

Luke wrinkled his nose at her, "I didn't say we would train-"

"The whole gang's going out to party tonight." 

"The Girly Girls are going out." He smirked and swiveled back to the terminal. "Lock up the children."

"It's not just my roommates. We have other friends, you know. There's going to be a whole crowd from what I hear."

Luke let out a depressed sigh. "Well, lets get started." He had his back to her and slid the first stack towards the database.

Kess took the first card from the pile and barely glanced at it. She thought about trying to sense out and detect his emotions and decided to it the old fashioned way, and just ask. "Do you want to go with us?"

Luke looked at her like she was nuts. "Me?"

Kess almost laughed. "Yeah you. Why is that idea so crazy?"

Luke shook his head, "Kess, I. . . I don't-"

Kess leaned forward and giggled at him, "Well, if your gonna be a farm boy about it-"

"I don't think that anyone would want to party with me hanging around. A lot of people get nervous around me. You know that. Besides you have a bigger reason not to go out than I do." She glanced at him, not knowing off hand what that reason was. "There's at least one spy here on Yavin who is watching you and apparently has been for a while. So, keep your eyes peeled." Luke yanked a card off the stack and punched it roughly into the database.

Kess grinned as she watched him. "Awe, the Living Legend is worried about me."

Luke punched at the buttons on the front panel and snarled at the teasing, "Stop calling me that."

"Blower upper of the Death Star, Defender of the whole galaxy." She watched his eyes narrow in embarrassment. "Can you catch bullets with your teeth?"

Luke looked her in the eye. "Kess, Supreme Prophet Kadaan seems to want you dead. I don't understand how you can joke about that."

"The jokes and parties are what keeps me sane." She turned away to her own sorting. "I'm going to protect my social life whether you're worried about me or not. Besides, it's better than hanging out here pretending you _like_ Jedi data entry."

"Touché," he had to chuckle at that.

"Two, One," she smiled without looking up from her work.

"No point. I'm not speechless."

She had a standard datapad in her hand and was eyeballing it like a cat who'd caught a mugrat. "Okay, but I get another shot at that point."

"Fine." Luke sighed a grin and tried to focus on where to download the first set, instead of focusing on her flirting.

Kess read aloud like a game show host repeating the Final Answer, "What not to do while training a female Jedi Apprentice."

Luke rolled across the empty floor and tried to grab the card of training notes before Kess could plug it into a datapad. Kess had moved her hand far out of his reach and blocked it with her own chair. Their knees bumped in the middle of the floor. Luke stopped, met her eccentric glare, and dropped his arm.

"Now do I get the point?" She taunted.

Luke rubbed his lips together to hide his grin and blinked a long moment. "You can have all the points you want as long as you hand over that datacard." 

The man was literally starting to look embarrassed. She raised her chin confidently, "I think I have a right to see this. Wouldn't you agree?"

His expression didn't change, "After your training."

"Awe, c'mon."

"After."

She rolled her head, pretending to be more perturbed than she really was. "Is there anything I'm going to be allowed to do _before_ my training is over?"

"Yeah," he smiled sarcastically, "_train_." 

Her shoulders slumped at him comically, and Luke took the opportunity without second thought. The glint in his eye kept her attention for a split second while his hand rose into the air. The datacard was yanked from her hand by the invisible Force and sucked through the air into his.

Kess barely had the chance to blink and he was stuffing it proudly in his breast pocket as he rolled his chair back away again.

She met his challenging stare with as much of humor has he did, "What do you put in there anyway?"

Luke slid the card into his breast pocket and turned to the terminal, "My mistakes. . .  for future reference."

Kess turned back to the desk. "What kind of mistakes?"

"Mistakes like leaving my training notes out where my apprentice can find them." Blue eyes twinkled at her and a finger pointed to the stacks on the table, "Sort."


	4. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15******

Captain Solo sent a short but sweet message ordering the Rogue Group Repair Supervisor to provide a full overhaul report on his ship. Lt. Lendra thought it best that she assign that duty to herself until Solo verbally approved of someone else touching his pile of junk. Besides, she had no one to spare to assign to the ship, the overhaul report was not critical, and she already knew that boat backwards and forwards anyway.

Kess rose on the top hatch and overlooked the pad in all its military glory. Over twenty X-wings hunched in two rows along the pie shape of the room, dozens of olive drab jumpsuits and khaki uniforms were up, down, in, and out of the ships; droids and runners zipped about looking busy. Two X-wings lowered from the open bay door and landed. The high whine echoed against the stone walls. She smelled the mustiness of canvass and jet fuel and stepped out onto the top hull of the Millennium Falcon and sighed happily. 

The metal had whitened slightly from the sea salt fusing to the ship when it punched through the atmosphere of Frakkan. From far off, it made the ship look cleaner than it really was, but up close, there was just more dirt to chisel off the hull to get down to the real problems. Stepping carefully to the patch she had secured under fathoms of water, she knelt down to inspect the pale green, rock hard, auto foam.

The patch held, thank the Force, but she would have heard about it long ago if it hadn't. There were about three or four liters of foam to clear (she punched the estimate into the datapad) and a breach of a half a meter that needed replacement. What she had done in a hurry was not only shoddy, but the patch metal was the wrong material entirely.

Standing tall again, punching in more numbers, she heard a voice call over the usual hubbub of the pad. "Wedge!" She glanced up to find Luke trotting out of the manager's office to the pilot who'd just landed. They met in the middle of the pad and turned to the ready room. 

She thought for a minute about the guy behind the uniform and the lightsaber. Only on occasion would she get a glimpse of just Luke. The guy was just lonely, she told herself, and she had more than enough evidence to prove it. When he reacted warmly to her, he was reacting on simple loneliness, and then he would realize to whom he was talking and stop. 

She often caught quiet smiles that, now, would be wiped off his face the minute she looked. He would laugh at a joke that would suddenly die. He would start talking about non-Jedi or military stuff, and suddenly get back to business. Kess was tempted to dive into his rainbow colored cloud to see what the hell was going on in there, but she knew better than to think she would get away with it without him finding out.

Kess sighed wearily and turned back to the Falcon, trying to keep her mind on the issues at hand, and stepped forward to see why the port side top hatch wasn't working. She arrived to the area in question and located the problem immediately. 

Where the door was supposed to slide aside (but didn't), where a sudden hull breach had been filled with autofoam, where she had fallen backwards into the ship screaming, "There's a big fish out here!" there were two, foot long, white teeth sticking straight up from the autofoam. The fish had taken a bite of the ship, the autofoam had kicked in to stop the pressure leak, and trapped that giant animal to the side of the ship as it went into the sky. 

She chuckled ironically, imagining the sight of the six-foot tall creature flapping wildly against the side of the hull until they hit ozone where it exploded slowly into a million turquoise and fluorescent orange scales. The only thing left of the starving thing was its notorious dental wear.

"Well, her maze scores are excellent." Wedge was pulling at the zipper to remove the red orange T-suit. "I'd like to see the film."

Luke rubbed his chin as he leaned against his own locker next door. "Yeah, we should look at the films of all three of them. I want to get this billet filled in the next couple of weeks."

"What happens in a couple of weeks?" Wedge tossed his boots into the locker and peeled the flight suit from the uniform underneath.

Luke shrugged and dropped his hand, "Nothing. I just don't like having an empty billet." As he thought about it, he caught Wedge's hazel eyes staring at him in consideration.

"What?"

Wedge considered, but shrugged it off. "Nah. Never mind." He stepped out of the orange suit and started folding it up.

Luke waited a moment, then mentally shrugged and stood on his feet to leave.

"No, I think I will ask you." Wedge popped out without looking up.

Luke turned back with patience and leaned his shoulder against his locker. "What?"

"Is your apprentice allowed to go out with people?"

Luke blinked, looked away, squinted, and looked back. His voice had lowered slightly, "Why wouldn't she be? She does it all the time."

Wedge hung the suit up in the locker and put other things back into place. "No, I mean, actually "date"."

Luke closed his eyes and moaned, "You've got to be kidding."

Wedge smiled at the man's reaction. "Funny, you look like you're taking it personally."

Luke peaked and eye open at the man. 

Wedge chuckled at him and explained, "A friend of a friend asked me to do it as a favor. There's a big party coming up and they're worried Kess is working too hard. Their first choice was you, but I told 'em that you'd never do it, so they asked me to do it instead." He shrugged a shoulder and checked his hair in a little mirror.

Luke rolled to his back and leaned heavier into his locker door. If he said no, he would have to explain why, and no idiot in the Alliance would believe that it was for wholesome Jedi reasons. And if he said yes, he was doomed to pretend he didn't care under even worse conditions. It was bad enough already, he could just imagine his fine Jedi peace if Kess started falling for somebody else while she was still training.

Wedge shut the door of his locker and looked at him. "Jedi are allowed to, aren't they?"

Blue eyes darted up, almost grinning, "As far as I know." Suddenly he stood his full height and squared his shoulders. "Wait a week, then ask me again."

"What happens in a week?"

Luke stepped away, "I have to explain the Jedi birds and bees to her first." They stepped out of the ready room and made their way through people and equipment towards the managers' office.

Wedge cocked a half grin at Luke's back, "Do you know the Jedi birds and bees?"

Luke smiled and turned to open the office door, "No. That's why I need a week."

Neilson was talking with an engineer at his desk and Teik was tapping away at the terminal. Luke strolled down the center aisle, staring at the floor.

Wedge approached his own desk. "One would think you'd've looked into that stuff by now."

Luke looked over two new reports on his desk, "Well, I haven't gotten around to it."

Wedge spun around, softened his grin, and tried to soften his volume, "Luke, eight years is not just 'not getting around to it.'"

Luke leered at him. "Can we finish this some other time?"

Wedge chuckled at his friend and forced his mouth not to say the next wise crack that popped in his head.

Luke leaned back in his chair picking up the new reports from his desk. The first report consisted of histbat results from yesterday's maneuvers. The second was a ship stat report, but the first page summary listed some very strange numbers. Luke read it as he tossed the histbats aside. With eyes staring at the numbers to make sure he read it right, a hand reached for the commlink at his belt and raised it to his lips, "Lendra! Report to the managers' office _on the double_." He put the commlink down, and the managers' office quieted as he reread the report a third time.

**Ship Status Report - Rogue Group / Pad 14**

**Lt. Lendra / Repair Supervisor - page 1 summary**

**# craft cleared - - - 2**

**# craft cleared maneuvers - - - 0**

**# craft cleared watches - - - 2**

**# craft grounded - - - 28**

Kess heard his voice over the loud speaker calling her name and looked up from her work. From her quick glance across the pad floor to the office, she saw that a dozen members of repair also looked up from theirs. She sighed heavily and climbed down into the Falcon. He saw the report.

Before disembarking the ship, she squared her shoulders and straightened her uniform. Kess strutted out across the pad to the office, not looking at, but seeing, all the repair grunts and pilots watching her and stepping out of her way. She knew why. Luke never got irate enough raise his voice with anger. Kess stepped in and confidently acted as though she had no idea what she was called in for.

Wedge and Teik stayed safely behind their desks, knowing that something was up, but not what. Neilson waited behind his desk, letting Kess take the blame for the report, just as they had agreed. By the hands of someone outside, the office door swung closed behind her. Luke folded his hand on his desk and leaned forward. His lips were drawn tightly together as watched Kess with cold eyes. 

Kess looked at him and forced a grin, "What's up?"

Luke stared at her for a second, knowing damned well that she knew what she was doing, but gave her the opportunity to correct it. "Tell me this is a typo."

Kess strolled over to his desk and took the report he offered. Glancing down briefly at the summary she frowned sympathetically and shook her head, "It's not a typo." 

Luke's head dropped.

"That's is my report, Commander," she said stiffly. "I warned you about your clearing standards."

Luke pushed himself out of his chair and roughly stepped around his desk, pointing at the report, "I can override this."

Kess stepped backward and crossed her arms, trying to maintain the most professional tone of voice possible, "Yes, _sir_, as Group Commander you have the authority to override my report. But if your pilots get hurt because your ships are in shitty condition, it would be your ass on the line, not mine."

Teik slowly swiveled away in his chair. Wedge inhaled with a whistle and folded his hands in his lap.

Luke's voice was low, soft, and seamed barely contained from yelling. "You have grounded twenty eight of the Alliance's best pilots-"

"I have grounded twenty eight of the Alliance's worst craft, at a time of peace, so that your repair group can get your best pilots the best ships. Every last one of those X-wings has a fault that drastically reduces its capability."

Luke remained icily calm. "And what if we were not at a time of peace?"

"I'll clear everything that flies if we get attacked."

His eyebrows rose, "If Yavin is attacked, it'll be too late. You're talking about tearing down twenty eight ships simultaneously, which will take from two hours to two weeks to ready them to fly. I guarantee you that the firefight will be over by then!" He was nearly yelling now. 

"Well, what would you suggest, Commander? If you keep sending them up for maneuvers, the ground crew will never catch up on the repairs. You _have_ to give us time to fix what you break!"

Luke sighed wearily and rubbed his hand over his face with a whine, "Yeah, but do you have to ground all twenty-eight?"

"My clearing standards are in my report. If you will so notice, none of them pass. Every time a ship goes up for anything but a watch it comes down with more to fix that it began with. I need to ground all the ships long enough to catch up. You can do your watches with two ships, sir."

"And how do you expect us to do that?" Luke wanted to hear the preposterous idea come out of her mouth. 

Pilots didn't like other pilots flying their spacecraft. The relationship was like a Tusken Raider and its bantha. Kess set her chin, "Share."

Luke visibly gritted his teeth at her.

Wedge spurted out, "_Share_?!"

Luke drilled his eyes into hers and hissed, "Kess, that two includes mine."

"That's Lieutenant Lendra here, _sir_, and yes, that includes yours."

Wedge coughed away a laugh.

Kess continued, "It is normal for the Group Commander and Group Leader to have the two ships in the best condition. You are more experienced, get hit less, and repair subconsciously take better care of them."

Wedge caught his breath and his grin died. "Mine too?"

"Yours too." Luke dropped the report on Wedge's desk.

"Now hang on!"

Luke set his hands on his hips and faced her. "So, how long do you plan to single-handedly ground _Rogue Group_?"

"I can have five up in two weeks and the rest depends on parts. Our estimate is approximately four weeks for all twenty eight of them."

Luke spoke quietly, "But, we can't do maneuvers with five ships."

Kess raised her voice at him and poked a finger at his chest, "Well if _your_ wingnuts would _stop_ getting **_shot_** you wouldn't have that problem!"

Neilson, having sat silently at his desk all this time, covered his face with a hand with a moan.

Luke glanced at him. "Did you approve this report?"

Neilson dropped his hand and set his jaw, "I did, sir."

Commander Skywalker raised an eyebrow at the Repair Manager, but didn't question it. Luke admitted to himself that, led by his homegrown and gutsy Jedi Apprentice, his Repair Group had secretly formed a completely legal mutiny. 

He saw the humor it but didn't let that show in his face. He looked back at Kess, crossed his arms, and spoke clearly and calmly. "So, _Lieutenant_, how would you suggest I report to Admiral Drayson that his best group has been grounded for an entire month?"

Kess wasn't about to back down because she knew she was doing her job. "As the Group Commander, that is entirely your discretion, _sir_."

Luke stared at her for a long moment and, with a raised chin and crossed arms, she just stared back. _Great_, he thought, _another woman as stubborn as Leia._

Many people that worked for Luke Skywalker tried very hard not to do things that would make him mad and Luke suddenly realized just how hard they tried. He could feel the uncomfortable silence of the managers in the office and the breathless suspense of the Floor Supervisors trying to eavesdrop outside. The corner of his lip curled slightly. It was about time someone besides his family actually bucked him. The one person that thought of him most as some super human being was the same person who refused to treat him any differently.

It was a fine trait for a Jedi Knight.

He adjusted his folded arms. Not only did he need to verify this out in the open with her, he wanted the group to know it, too. "You're not getting out of any training to do overtime here."

"Yes, sir. I know."

"And you can't use any Jedi tricks here to get you through a group overhaul."

"Yes, Master. I know that, too."

"All right, then," he said quietly, taking the ship stat report from Wedge and turning to the door. "I'd like all hands in the muster room by the time I get back from the Admiral's office."

Kess nodded stiffly. 

Commander Skywalker stepped to the door and opened it. The small crowd disbursed in a big fat hurry. He felt their fear barely subside as the bodies moved away and he suddenly felt tickled pink that Kess stopped fearing him enough to actually stand up against him in a crowd of strangers. He turned his back to Pad 14 and eyes sparkled with delight as he strutted to the travelway.

Kess let out a long breath and collapsed her posture, but she was smiling.

Neilson stood from his desk. "You didn't have to yell at him," he scolded.

Kess pulled her shoulders back again, her smiled fading to calculate the billions of tasks she suddenly had to do. "He heard me. That's what counts. Have you got that overhaul plan?"

Neilson had the datapad on his desk and ready. He handed to her, sighing away the tenseness of that conversation. Teik stood and stepped to her with a blue shimmering grin, offering his commlink. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Kess smiled again and took the commlink. She went to the door as she switched it on. Her voice carried out over the loud speaker as she started moving towards the Floor Sups. "Rogue Group all hands report to the muster room. Rogue Group, all hands to the muster room."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Everyday was a long, exhausting stretch, but the weeks seemed to fly by faster than an A-wing at top speed. Lt. Lendra's success in grounding Rogue Group went straight to her attitude. The repair grunt within her fought for, and protected, the rights and wants of everyone in Repair, down to the most trivial things, even if it meant having to pick a fight with the Commander or one of his pilots. 

On the first day of the ground, a hundred service members filtered out of the muster room slowly and stood around awaiting the ballsy Lieutenant to kick off the overhauls repairs. Kess hurried to the manager's office, grabbed four different brands of FM radios and hustled out to the crowd, handing them to the first four repair grunts she saw. She strategically pointed to power outlets throughout the pad so that you could hear the music from every parked craft. 

Luke stepped up beside her, put a finger to his lips thoughtfully and pointed, "Um, what are you doing?"

"We're gonna be working our butts off," She said without looking at him, "and I'll be damned if you're not gonna let us listen to music while we're at it."

Luke pursed his lips. It was against regulations to have music on the pad at any audible volume, but what would you expect from a bunch of rebels anyway? The first three had trotted off with the radios but Seidrik paused, looking nervously at the Commander.

Luke shrugged.

A smile grew on Seidrik's face as he turned and trotted away.

Later that day, Commander Skywalker ended up helping out greatly when he mustered the pilots for maneuver review. The flyboys stayed in the muster room for the rest of that week picking apart the technical details of dogfighting. Kess sighed in relief that, for a while at least, all those arrogant and impatient wingnuts were out of her hair.

Luke watched quietly as the members of Rogue Repair were slowly motivated completely out of his control. Kess wasn't demanding or bossy, but her confidence in the ground plan and her quick, decisive suggestions brought even Neilson to follow her orders without questioning her. She did not use her apprenticeship to her advantage in the efforts of acquiring resources. She used psychological methods barely within regulations that worked better than any Jedi trick she could have used. 

Airman Froda was constantly late and all too often ran into the Muster Room just as Commander Skywalker started his pass down, disrupting the whole meeting but still making muster on time. So, Kess told the young man that if muster had already begun, he had to remain outside the Muster Room until after pass down was over. After she gave him, and all the others, this new rule, the Airman didn't make muster for several days in a row, and therefore was marked late. The paperwork quickly reflected his habits, and he quickly changed them before there was enough to put him on report. 

She had all the R2 units fitted with double jointed arms for their pliers attachments and then programmed them to identify all of the hand tools repair usually used. So, when one of repair was stuffed into, or otherwise had their hands full with, a piece of an X-wing, an R2 unit usually stood by with a plate of tools, handing over whatever was asked for. The new procedure cut down on time, fumbling accidents, and, for some tasks, the need for two people.

She also had Neilson dress up in a clean-pressed uniform and ordered him out with a parts list to the other pads. He had grumbled slightly about improper use of the Chain of Command, but she snapped back like a wise mother, "You're not ordering anybody to do anything, just stroll up to the Floor Supervisors and ask very casually if they have any spares. They'll see your rank and your Rogue patch and trip on their tongues trying to deny you. But they won't succeed. Trust me."

Neilson had left pessimistically but returned later that afternoon with a box full of parts. Wedge and Teik were astonished at his success, but Luke sat back in his chair and laughed.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The dining table was cluttered with piles of small electrical and mechanical parts around solder iron that was smoking in its stand. Luke had been hunched over the small project for over an hour and was nearly finished with the prototype when the doorbell buzzed.

"Come in, Wedge." 

Wedge strutted in, wearing his finer civvies and stopped in the middle of the floor. "You're not dressed yet?" Wedge knew it was going to be hard to get Luke out of the apartment, that's why he came to get him in the first place.

Luke looked at his lap to verify that, yes, he was wearing clothes, and curled his lip at his friend.

Wedge slid into a chair at the table. "The party? Don't you remember?"

Luke sighed and went back to his little project. "Yes, I remember. Kess left about two hours ago to get ready for it."

Wedge slapped the table, "All the more reason for you to go."

Luke looked at him and winced, "Why would that be a reason for me to go?"

Wedge shrugged and stuttered, "Well, I just, um. . .."

Luke read his expression. "Wedge, I told you that I wasn't going. What are you doing here?"

"Luke, you hide yourself in this damned apartment and you never go have any fun. You've got to get out and start showing people your mortal."

"I am mortal," he mumbled.

"Well, you don't act like it. You haven't acted mortal since the Battle of Hoth. You used to come party with the pilots all the time. Since Leia and Han-"

"Wedge! Don't even start! I don't party any more because I've got a lot on my mind and I have a lot of work to do." He sneered, "You're acting like its Victory Day or something."

Wedge stood from the table, "The day I get you to go to a blasted party, it will be Victory Day, pal. But if you don't get out there soon, Kess Lendra is gonna end up on someone else's arm."

Luke's eyes shot up. 

Wedge's eyes smiled at his reaction, "That's what I thought."

Luke winced, "Wedge, cut it out. Just go. Get out of my hair, will yeah?"

"Fine, I'll go chase the girls and you just sit here and play with your," he waved his hand at the contraption on the table, "thingy."

Luke grinned at him, "Go."

Wedge squinted and took a step back over to the table. "Is that another lightsaber?"

Luke stood from the table and grabbed the cylinder with both hands. "Sort of. It a dud. . . for practice." But the dud turned on with the same snap-vroom as any other lightsaber, and the blade was pure white. Luke waved it around in the air for a second, "It's not supposed to cut through mass."

Wedge admired the concept, "Does it work?"

The Jedi grinned evilly, "I don't know. Let me test it." He pulled back with the saber as if to swing sideways slash at his wingman, but didn't swing it.

Wedge dashed backward anyway. "I don't think so." 

Luke chuckled and sat back down. "Tell everyone I said hello."

Wedge scratched his head and turned away in defeat, "Well, all right. Maybe next time."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The south base warehouse had been an overflow barracks for some of the Rebellion's lower ranks during the Battle of Yavin days. The permatemp building received some structural damage, making it non-transportable, and was left behind when the Rebellion fled to Hoth with their tails between their legs. When they returned to Yavin 4 years later, the New Alliance had more governmental supporters (and therefore more money) to build stronger, permanent structures for their first visible base. The warehouse had been forgotten by most, yet the guys from the early days could not forget the party they had there the day young Luke Skywalker blew up the first Death Star, and saved all of their lives.

The gang that set this up had worked hard with what they had. They managed to "borrow" a bunch of emergency yellow floodlights and set them up in various places in and outside the building. A group of Repair grunts had formed themselves a band and played in the local pubs on occasion. They were there too, set up in full gear and high volume, and played hit songs from one system's culture to the next. The bar that filled the back wall, the gambling tables in the corner, and the seating around the outside of the giant room were all built with whatever spare furniture they could find, including the tables and bunks that were originally in the warehouse back when it was still a barracks. The place looked like a giant playhouse for grammar kids, except, of course, for the abundance of alcohol.

An acre of the jungle had been carved out for construction vehicles long ago and left a makeshift parking lot of mud and trampled grass outside the rickety building. The parking lot was already half filled with speeders when dusk vanished and the news spread like wildfire. Bodies of all breeds were arriving deep into the night, but mostly the lower ranks of the fleet. The girlies showed up just after nightfall and were already giggling wildly when they poured out of Yana's speeder, dressed for the kill, and ready to pounce the first good looking guy to walk along.

Kaila strutted into the warehouse with a purpose, grinned deviously at Kess before they dove into the festivities, and scanned the crowd for a pair of men to accost. Kess shook her head in warning but knew there was nothing she could do about it. Yana whipped her chestnut hair aside with pride, more comfortable in attacking prospective targets alone, and Joanne searched the crowd for that Lieutenant she already had an eyeball on. As the girlies blended in with the dancing bodies and voices faded into the loud music, Kess followed behind and grinned quietly. She missed this stuff.

Kaila and Kess each had a shot of Retago just to get started and sipped on mixed drinks with Retago in them to keep going. In search of a place to sit down and get inebriated, they danced as they moved across the large, crowded floor, and found a vacant bunk with a battered mattress pushed sideways up against the wall. "So, girly girl," Kaila smiled deviously as she got comfortable, "What are you in the mood for? A brunette, or maybe a redhead?"

"Kaila, please," Kess groaned.

Kaila ignored her, "Maybe you're in the mood for certain style tonight. How 'bout an engineer like us, or a nice quiet pencil pusher?"

"I'm not in the mood at all, okay. I just want to get drunk and have a good time."

Kaila looked at her friend in the pale yellow light, "Or maybe I could talk you into blonde and blue eyes. Y'know, a pilot, a Commander, a-"

"Kaila, no. We already got in enough trouble for that Jedi joke you told on the air."

"I know." Kaila's smile faded slightly, "but you didn't mind getting in trouble with me before. You've gotten mellow on me. I'm starting to get worried about you."

Kess chuckled at her, "I've always been mellow! You were just too busy man-hunting to notice."

"No, girly. You are getting more mellow. It's like you've got some deep subject on your mind, all the time. I'm starting to think you're gonna end up as quiet and reserved and as boring as that galactic hero you've been hanging out with."

Kess straightened her posture against the wall they were leaning on, and lifted her chin. "The Jedi superiority comes naturally with the training."

Kaila sputtered out her drink and fell over laughing. When she finally calmed down, she wiped her eyes to make sure the mascara wasn't running, and giggled at Kess. "Look, my friend, either you are going to admit that there is something going on between you and Commander Saves-the-Day or I'm gonna drag you out to find somebody to flirt with. Now what is it gonna be?"

Kess thought for a minute, sipped her drink, and eyed Kaila curiously, "Is there an option C?" 

A new group of people arrived at the wide open doors every few seconds. The Rebels didn't have parties this big outside Victory Day. Kess was beginning to wonder if there was a special occasion that spawned it or if it was just a friendly get together that grew like a disease. The warehouse grew crowded enough that Kess used the excuse that they'd lose their seats to fight Kaila about getting up to dance with someone. She wasn't shy to mention that the buzz she was feeling was growing into a monster and Kaila was content for the moment to let her friend just sit and get drunk. She planned to interrogate her as soon as Little Miss Jedi was too plastered to know which way was up.

Yana showed up and joined them at the bunk a little later, frumping about the lack of acceptable targets present at the party, but Yana was picky with her men anyway. She sat down next to Kess on the bunk and joined in on the snickering. Joanne had found her Lieutenant and was doing rounds throughout the building. Every time she passed by the bar, she picked up four Retago shots and made her way to the bunk where she passed them out. So the girlies were doing shots together every fifteen minutes. With that, and the various drinks given to them from men as dancing bait, the girls quickly realized that they wouldn't have to get up all night long.

The crowd had grown to where they could no longer see the door or the bar from where they sat, and hoards of people were standing in little circles of conversation all around them. At least twenty people that one or all of them knew had stopped by the bunk to chat for a minute, and Kess barely noticed that even the one's she didn't know were politely greeting her by name. She was too drunk to care, and called out a slurred, "Howya doin'!" to everyone that talked to her whether she recognized them or not.

Eventually, Kess had lost count on the Retago shots, lost track of what time it was, and totally forgot that there was a lightsaber attached to her belt. The giggling had grown into bad jokes and all out laughter when, right in front of them, one guy roughly pushed another.

The second turned quickly and sailed his fist into the first man's jaw, and the crowd suddenly pulled back to create a small bubble of space for the two of them to go at it. Kess, Kaila, and Yana pulled their legs onto the bunk and huddled to stay out of the way. The music stopped and the yelling started. When the blood started spraying from the two men, a dark-haired guy in the crowd stepped up to the bunk and yelled at Kess furiously, "Aren'tchya gonna do something?!"

Her eyes darted around to verify that he was talking to her and squinted at him. "Why me?"

The one that was losing the fight fell to the ground in a lump and twisted his body around to kick up in defense. Kaila leaned over to Kess and stressed, "Do something."

Kess turned her snarled lip at Kaila and realized that nobody else was gonna do anything because they were all expecting her to. Not even sure what to do, she slowly slid forward on the bunk and dodged the fists as she stood. By that time, one was on top of the other and they were wrestling violently on the dirty floor. Kess wrung her hands for second and lowered her head close to the both of theirs. She had to put her hand on the floor to keep from falling over. They didn't notice her until she yelled out at the top of her lungs, "STOP!"

The building went deathly silent. The two men suddenly stopped fighting and looked up at her in surprise. Kess stood straight again, in shock of their reaction, and watched the two bleeding men stand and adjust their twisted clothing. They looked at her humbly like she was Shore Patrol and waited as if expecting punishment.

Kess glanced back at Kaila in complete confusion, but Kaila kicked her lightly in the leg. "Go on."

A little nervous with this unearned power, she crossed her arms and looked at each of the men in the eye. "So, what's going on?"

The one that started it spoke first. "He was tryin' to steal my woman-!" he stopped short to catch the blood that dribbled from his mouth when he talked.

Kess looked at the other. "And you?"

The other guy just shrugged at her, glanced at the woman who was obviously the source of the argument and glared evilly at his attacker.

She was a little insulted at the attackers claim. The New Alliance legal and social structures were based on total equality between races. Even the droids had rights. Kess scratched her chin in thought, not really caring who was right anyway. She just wanted them to stop, the music to start, and her to go back to her giggling and drinking. 

She looked at the first guy and very seriously asked, "Well, if you have a receipt for purchasing the _woman_ you can go to security on Monday and press charges. Until then. . . chill."

The man clenched his teeth at her snide remark but was obviously forcing himself to calm down, "Yes, ma'am," he mumbled and turned away. The crowd parted him front of him, giving him a wide path straight to the door. 

The other one looked at Kess and muttered, "Sorry, Lieutenant." He turned to the woman, shook his head, and walked to the restrooms in the opposite direction. 

Kess gave the woman a look of disappointment that was read clearly before the woman ran to catch up with her beat up boyfriend. Once all three members of the dilemma had left the scene, the crowd began to mingle again, and a few minutes later, the music started back up.

Kess spun around to the bunk with her hands out in the air and asked, "Ssssomebody tell me why that worked?"

Yana busted out in rioting laughter and Kaila shook her disappointed head at her drunken, thick-sculled, naive, Jedi friend.

For an hour after the incident, acquaintances were passing by to tell Kess 'good job', and 'we gotta have you at the rest of the parties, just in case.' Joanne even abandoned her man and squeezed in with them on the bunk because she said it was safer there. Kess didn't want to believe the truth that was haunting her conscious and cried out in frustration, "But I didn't do anything!"

"You didn't have to, Kess." Wedge walked up from the crowd with drink in his hand and a smile on his face. "All you have to do is speak, and they will jump."

"Cap'n Antilles!" She called out, "Ha' ya doin'?"

"That's 'Wedge' when I'm not in uniform, and I would be doing much better if I could have gotten Luke to attend this little shindig." He sat down on the edge of the bunk and looked over the four drunk women sitting in a row. "Hello, ladies."

Kess pulled her cup up to her lips with a snicker, "Why did you even try?"

Wedge was obviously still somewhat sober. "He acts like the weight of the universe is on his shoulders and I will continue to try to get him to relax for as long as I live." He sipped his cup and looked at her, "It seems you've been able to shake off that Jedi seriousness so far. I hope you don't lose your festive side by the time he gives you that blasted pin."

Kess was suddenly remembering the man that she was getting drunk just to forget. "Yeah, well. I get in trouble for it a lot more often than you guys might think. He never said I couldn't have fun, but he sure doesn't like it when I try to."

"Ah, don't worry about him. He's just jealous." 

Kess thought for a second and suddenly started to laugh, "Can you imagine him on a jealousy streak? Getting into fisticuffs at a party over some girl?"

Wedge looked at her like she was crazy, "No. And I really don't want to. So you just watch yourself."

"Why?" She looked up offended. "Why me? Why do I have to watch myself just because that farm boy hasn't convinced himself he's human yet?"

Wedge raised a black eyebrow at her. 

Kaila licked her lips and adjusted her elbow. "Okay, I think she's drunk enough." She reached over and pulled Kess' paper cup from her hands, but as she did it, she squinted at Wedge and asked non-chalantly, "What took you so long? You were supposed to get her mind off the guy. Now it's too late."

Wedge rubbed his chin and shook his head at her. His hand went up in the air as a shrug. "I couldn't do it. Her Master denied me permission." Kess was hearing all this, but too drunk to respond to any of it.

Kaila was astounded. "He actually said 'no'?"

A long, thin, shiny piece of metal appeared in front of Kess' face. It halted all conversation on the bunk. All eyes followed the fencing blade to the man that held its other end. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed face grinned evilly, spun the sword around and offered Kess the hilt. His voice carried the casual side of an accent from a system with a proper and honorable culture, and his naturally wide smile melted the defenses of every woman he talked to. "You, my dear, never came back to fencing class."

Kess' eyes brightened when she recognized him. "Rett!" She took the hilt from the air and scrambled off the bunk. "How ya' doin'?"

He had another fencing sword in his other hand. "I've been gettin' bored with that new guy, while you've been out trainin' with a master, damnit." His grinned like a predator who had finally baited his prey. "I think you better show me what you've got before I slice you op!"

As they moved to stand with the swords out between them, the crowd again grew a large bubble but they knew that it was play and not a fight. Rett and Kess had smiles on their faces. When he saluted with the blade, Kess was able to focus her foggy eyes enough to ensure that it was a dull fencing sword. Though one could slap the metal hard on a body and inflict some pain, no one would get permanently damaged. That wasn't what Rett had in mind anyway. They used to have a lot of fun together dueling it out in Lokey's class. 

She saluted and stepped back into a defense position, wobbling on her drunken legs. "Rett, I think I maybe too drunk to do this."

Rett grinned wider and with two, quick, taunting taps on her blade. "Naw, never too drunk. Just too scared."

Kess backed up another step. Adjusted her equilibrium and raised the sword to defend. Then he attacked again, lunging forward and slicing the air only to have her instincts block the moves repeatedly. Kess rubbed her eyes with her free hand as the other just blocked the lunges under some invisible control. She kept stepping backwards for balance, and eventually tripped backward over a recently emptied chair. Kess started giggling from the floor but still managed to bring her feet back underneath her and block the next swing anyway.

The grin on Rett's face grew ironic that his partner was so drunk she could even stand and yet she was defending herself without even trying. He got slightly frustrated with the stalemate and yelled out to her, "Fight me, damnit! Get op and attack!"

Kess sighed tiredly, still controlling a giggle, and stood on her feet. Suddenly her posture straightened and her face went stone cold sober. A shadow crossed Rett's face when her saw the change in her eyes and just barely brought up his blade in time to block the oncoming attack.

Kess kept her narrowed eyes on him as she stepped forward and swung. Rett almost ducked by reflex alone and shuffled backwards as he stood tall again. She came at him with swift taps on his sword from all directions. He stood tall but his grin faded as the desperation grew to defend himself from the onslaught.

Kess reminded herself that she hadn't gone through any lightsaber training with Luke, aside from simply blocking shots from the remote. All of this sudden ability to fence well came from what she learned at Lokey's fencing classes, combined with the newly refined ability to use the Force. Her ability had improved so much that she started to get arrogant. 

She had backed Rett up to nearly the wall when she spied a casual observer too busy staring to give any notice to the drink in his hand. Kess grabbed the drink and gulped while her sword arm was still guarding herself from Rett. The cup was so large that when she drank, the rim covered her eyes. Rett took the opportunity to lunge at her stomach.

Kess felt it on the Force before it happened but was stabbed with a nub in the stomach anyway. She dropped the cup in her stumble and bumped into another observer. The observer laughed at her and caught Kess before she really fell, and the cup tumbled down her front, soaking her clothes and her lightsaber with sticky red alcohol. 

Rett lowered his guard and stepped up to her, offering a hand. "You all right, lass?"

Kess grumbled a complaint about spilling the drink and quietly thanked the guy for catching her fall. She yanked the lightsaber off her belt as smiled in embarrassment at Rett. "I told you I was too drunk for this."

Rett took her by the arm to steady her legs of jelly and grinned, "But you were winning!" He watched her wipe the excess alcohol off the saber hilt and look it over. "Does it still work?"

Kess pulled from his arm, backed up, and turned it on with an evil grin. The loud snap-vroom and sudden amber glow yanked everyone's cautious attention. Kess slashed down at the fencing sword still hanging from Rett's hand and sliced the blade in two. The echo of the metal piece clattering on the pavement was only drowned out by Kess' evil giggle. "I won!" 

Kaila suddenly dashed off the bunk and snapped her fingers in front of Joanne's staring eyes. "Snap out of it. We gotta get her home." 

The girlies suddenly jumped into action and talked Kess vary calmly and carefully, "Kess, honey, put the lightsaber down." 

As soon as it was turned off, Kaila moved in to grab the thing from her hands. Yana and Joanne went to her sides and half carried her through the crowd. Kess was the only one laughing all the way out the door.


	5. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16******

The bedroom was dark, but the streetlights glowed in through the window to bathe the short bed in bluish light. She felt the bare skin on her cheek and cuddled deeper into his arms. The cool sheets lightly covered her body and accented the warmth of his skin where her bare leg was draped over his. He stirred, brushing his fingertips across her back and wrapped his arm around her. 

"Luke?" she whispered.

"Hm?" 

A syrupy polite voice pierced the peace and quiet. "Good morning. It is zero four fifty eight." That's when the creep with the jackhammer started in on her head and her sluggish brain was yanked out of the dream.

Kess didn't move and was too afraid to open her eyes. Through her lids she could tell it was actually bright sunlight coming in through the window, and the warm strong body she cuddled next to was actually a sticky pillow. She was still fully clothed. The dream of warm breath across her face still fogged her mind. . . .

"Good morning," the computerized alarm was a bright, female voice, "It is zero four fifty nine."

Kess winced in the pillow. She would give anything to just go back to sleep into the dream. She raised her hand and draped her arm across the pillow as if it were a chest. Why is the pillow sticky? She patted the pillow and vaguely remembered the drink tumbling down her clothes and her memory continued the scene until she turned on the lightsaber and laughed out loud, _I won!_

Kess grunted into the pillow, "Oh geez."

"Good morning. It is zero five hundred."

0500!! Kess sat up straight, "I'm really in trouble!" She grabbed her pounding head and moved to the closet to change into her running sweats. She was supposed to be on the grinder with Luke nearly an hour ago. Her frantic and clumsy maneuver paused when there was a knock on the door. She hit the door control with one hand and yanked her sweats out of the closet with the other.

"Why hurry now?" Luke said heavily as he crossed his arms and leaned up against the door jam. "You're already late."

Kess froze in her tracks. She couldn't tell if his voice was sarcastic or angry.

"Yana has been kind enough to invite me in to wait for you." He moved to leave, "So you don't have to rush."

"Are we going running this morning?" She asked in hopes that her tardiness would convince him to skip that part altogether. 

Luke leaned through the doorway and lowered his voice to an evil tone, "Farther than you can possibly imagine."

Her eyes widened until he broke the stare and left the room, at which time she ripped off her clothes and jumped in the shower in an even bigger panic than before.

He said little as they strolled to the grinder, and didn't give any hints about whether or not he knew the events that took place at the party. He acted like the perfect drill sergeant when one of his troops came on duty with a hangover and began talking loudly just to annoy her condition. When they reached the grinder, Luke voice had raised to a shouting, "How are you feeling?!"

Kess grumbled at him, "Don't yell, please."

He gritted his teeth nearly grinning about it, "I'm not yelling! Why? Do you have a hangover?!"

Kess glared at him and spoke quietly, "I'm going to start running now. You just let me know when I'm done, okay?" She trotted off and thanked the Maker that three quarters of Yavin's population were still sleeping off their own hangovers. Not many of the thousands of people in those barracks would be peaking out the windows to watch them today. 

Luke crossed his arms and stood in that same spot while she ran around the half kilometer the first time. She didn't look at him, but he yelled loudly into her ear as she passed. "Having fun is not a sin! But your duties come FIRST!"

Kess closed her eyes and kept running slowly. She was determined that the battery would end sooner if she let him have his way. She came around again for the second pass, already panting because of her lack of sleep. 

There was a twinkle in Luke's eye when he shouted at her, "You're running awfully slow! Maybe a nice dip in the swamp will wake you up!"

Kess glared at him as she passed, jogged away again holding the side of her pounding head. Luke seemed to be enjoying this and that just pissed her off. She had nearly slowed to a walk by the time she came around again. Her head hurt so badly that eyeballs were throbbing, her chest heaved for oxygen, and every step felt like the bones in her legs were splintering. She grabbed her head with both hands and collapsed onto her knees. 

Luke stomped over to her and crouched down with his hands on his knees. "Don't stop! Keep running!"

Kess slapped her hands over her ears and shut her eyes tight. Her head felt like it was about to explode. 

Luke finally decided to stop, but he didn't feel at all guilty about putting her through the torture. His voice had lowered and the humor was gone, but he was still a little loud, "Does it hurt?"

"Yes, it hurts." She whined, opened her mouth to speak again but groaned. 

"Get up." He ordered, grabbing her hand and pulling the dead weight to stand. "C'mon, get up." Kess wavered on her legs and slapped her hand back over her ear as soon as he let it go. 

Luke put his hands on her shoulders and tried to look her in the eye even though her eyes were shut tight. He lowered his voice to a calm, soothing tone. "Find your peace."

She sighed heavily and reached into her emotions with her Force senses and dug through a cloud darkened with pain until she touched on the white wisps of peace underneath.

His voice almost whispered, "Now, wash it over the pain."

The concentration of her Force senses pressed into the white peace and smeared over the purplish blue syrup. The pain in her head melted away as it happened, and with a quivering sigh, Kess opened her eyes. She kept her senses working, spreading the white cloud over every dark spot in her emotions. She was feeling better by the second. 

Luke's blue eyes smiled and he stepped backward pointing at her, "Now _that's_ how you get rid of a hangover."

The headache was all but gone and her legs were sore, but functional. She sneered at him, "Why didn't you teach me that _before_ you made me run?"

Luke chuckled at her, "You had to earn it."

She didn't feel the annoyance and the desire to beat him like she usually would, but decided to beat him anyway. "You son-of-a-!" She bolted out into a run at him. Luke turned on his heals and ran away, his laughter echoed against the jungle and dozens of four story barracks buildings where thousands of service members still lay sleeping.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess lazily leaned an elbow on the armrest, hardly noticing the velocity in which the sportspeeder raced through the jungle. Luke barely said a word to her all day. He drove his usual speed without looking at her even once, and skidded to a stop in front of Toban Ridge. He hopped out, grabbed a canvas bag from the back seat, and hurried into the jungle. Kess climbed out of the car slowly and followed several meters behind. When she'd reached the clearing, Luke had his saber glowing green-white in his hand.

She hesitated, but climbed over the log and watched him warily.

Luke reached in the bag and pulled out the hilt of another lightsaber. He ignited the second saber's pure white blade and hovered them side by side in the air to compare the blades.

Kess inhaled and closed her mouth. "You built them without me."

His eye twinkled, "You were at a party," he explained. He saw the insulted look on her face that she had been left out of her engineering project.

"But-" She reached for it and quickly pulled her hand back. 

"Do you know more about lightsabers than I do?" He turned off both lightsabers and latched his own to his belt, then reached in the bag for another hilt of a dud.

She looked at him nervously, "Uh, no."

"Then trust me." He tossed the other hilt to her and he stepped backward several paces. 

Kess winced as she caught it in the air. She looked the hilt over and looked back up at him, already knowing what he had in mind before he ignited the pure white blade again. This was going to be far different than Rett and the fencing swords. "Have you tested them yet to make sure they're safe?"

Luke raised his guard and narrowed his eyes, "No," he lied, "but if you don't turn it on, you'll find out before I will."

Kess stepped backward into the log, frantically turning on the saber. The sound of it hissed unevenly as the blade was held wavering in the air. Luke dashed forward and brought down his blade on her like a mining pick. Kess ducked her head and held up her blade with a locked elbow. The sabers spat as they crashed together. She opened one eye first, and looked up meekly at Luke face behind the crossed blades. 

Luke shook his head, "C'mon. You can do better than that." He stepped backward again, pulling his blade from hers and then brought up his guard.

Kess stood up straight, adjusted her shoulders, and set her feet a part in the dust. With a deep sigh, she brought up her guard, and Luke came at her again. She managed to knock his blade to the side and stepped quickly in the opposite direction. 

Luke walked casually around in a half circle, and grinned, "That's better." 

He readied his guard, adjusted his feet, and swung from the side. Kess stretched to bring her blade vertical enough to stop it, and used a move of desperation to knock his blade away. 

Luke smiled gritted teeth but didn't pull back to re-adjust. Still stepping in a circle, he tapped her blade and faked a lunge. She blocked the lunge and barely saw the white glow out of the corner of her eye when the blade came hard at her left shoulder. The sting rang through her arm and Kess went tumbling to the ground in a cry of pain.

Luke's smile had vanished and he backed up, watching. 

Kess huddled on her knees, grabbing her upper arm, and sneered at Luke, "That hurt!"

His voice was tense, "It was supposed to." 

Kess' eyes hardened at him. She jumped up, ignoring the sting, and growled as she came at him with her blade. Luke brought up his sword and blocked it. She attacked with swift throws and backed him up into the bushes. He grinned as his feet trampled over thick vines and cooed at her, "Keep you temper. "

Kess paused in a ready stance, and panted. The sting in her shoulder was already gone. She saw the twinkle in his eye as he stepped out of the vines and then Luke started to chuckle. She tried to stay mad, but even her snarl was smiling. She growled out again and attacked. 

Luke's eyes widened for an instant, "Ahh!" He ducked and pulled away, guarding, blocking, attacking, parrying. . . and they spent a better part of three hours playfully dueling it out. 

In the excitement of the duel, the fight drifted out of the clearing and into the thick jungle. Each attack sent one moving backward and the counter attack usually pushed back in a different direction. They bounced like football through the shrubbery, laughing when they won and growling in jest when they got hit. Romping around like young felines at play, neither one noticed that serious Jedi training had mutated into a wild frolic.

Kess ran in a panic until she found a spot where the dusk shined down through the canopy in a series of fuzzy circles on the vine covered ground. She stopped and spun around, bringing the saber up confidently and blocked the other blade. Luke danced out of the bushes with his clean laughter echoing through the forest. 

Kess gritted her teeth at him. Her braids were sweaty and her clothes were smudged with dirt. She panted, backing up slowly and fighting to keep from tripping over the vines. Luke lowered his guard just barely. He leaned tauntingly forward and said, "You keep attacking like it's one handed fencing sword."

Kess jerked her head without taking her eyes off her opponent. "Old habits are hard to break, I guess."

Luke raised his blade and pointed it at her, "Break 'em." 

She tightened her two handed grip and nodded. Her eyes were fiery with excitement as she attacked two handed, hitting his blade so hard it knocked it into a near by tree branch. She pulled back and swung as if to cut off his head.

Luke ducked, stood up and stomped forward a lunge. The blades crossed low and a loud zap echoed through the trees. The birds chirped away from the canopy and the evening sun glowed down on their faces in a background of pure green. Luke panted through an open smile, staring at her wild eyes, and feeling her light on the Force glowing as bright as the blades.

Kess pulled her blade from the low cross and swung, but he met it again at a high cross. She pulled away and came back at him with vigor. Luke stepped to back up, but caught his foot in the vines, and fell backwards. Kess took the advantage and came down on his arm, hitting him directly on the back of his right hand.

Luke grunted in pain. His face twisted more drastically than it should have. The hilt was tossed to his left hand where it was quickly turned off, and his wounded arm huddled close to his stomach as if lame.

Brown eyes widened at the reaction, and turned off her blade as well. "What happened?"

Luke breathed heavily and sat up in the dark green vines. "Well, it doesn't hurt flesh," he said bringing his hand out to review the damage, "but I keep forgetting that this isn't flesh."

Kess fell to her knees in front of him and saw the charred synth-flesh had melted to reveal the cyborg electronics in the back of his hand. Her eyes perked up in surprise, "You part droid!"

Luke glanced at her indignantly, "Yes, and now I'm part broken droid."

Kess lowered further and gently took his hand, studying it like any other broken electronics she ran across. "The frequency from the saber could have screwed up the servos and overloaded 'em."

Luke looked at her sarcastically. "You're a cyborgenic doctor, too?"

Kess glanced up, "Er, no." She let go and backed up to sit on her feet.

Luke pulled it in again and looked at it, trying to push the frayed wires back into place.

"What happened to your real one?" she asked quietly.

He didn't look up, "It was cut off by. . . by Vader." He sighed a little as he realized what he was about to say. "Vader cut it off."

Kess shifted to sit comfortably as she realized that saber training was over for the day. She wanted to ask about Vader again, but knew better, and her heart went heavy at all those things that Luke still hadn't told her. She wondered what he was waiting for or what he had to hide. She spent all day, every day with him, and his old adventures were still the same old mystery. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll go to med lab when we get back." He looked up and started to chuckle, "That was fun."

Kess basked in his smile, "I guess you don't get to practice like that much, do you?" She pulled a rag from a shin pocket and handed it to him. 

"No. I never have." He said taking the rag and checking if for cleanliness.

She watched him try to wrap the cyborg hand with the other and fail. She leaned to take over the task. "Can I ask you a question?"

He let her have his hand and almost grinned at her, "Is it about Vader?"

Kess smiled shyly, "No."

Blue eyes were beaming at her, "All right, ask."

She wrapped the rag around hand and tied it at his palm. "We're the Jedi always called in for negotiations, like when you were called on the Frakkan Mission?" She let go of his hand and looked up.

Luke dropped his hand to his lap. "Yeah. Both sides of any argument would usually agree to a Jedi's solution because they knew that a Jedi would not use the incident for any personal advantage or revenge."

"A Jedi does not crave power or personnel wealth." She echoed a previous lesson, reaching both hands to her head and pulled out the ties of her braids. 

Luke smiled and nodded, "Right."

Kess' eyes drifted away. "So, that's why."

He squinted at her, "What's why?"

She looked at him and combed her tangled hair with her fingers at she explained. "At the party, a fight broke out and everyone expected me to break it up." Kess began to understand why she got the reactions she did.

"What did you do?"

"Oh, I just told them to stop and they did. I just couldn't figure out why." She forced a smile but a wave of sudden depression crashed down on her when she remembered what Wedge had said. She had originally decided to interrogate Luke about it, but she knew that he would deny it, blame it on some Jedi rule, or tell her flat out to drop the subject. She decided to save her the frustration of the conversation.

Luke felt it and searched her eyes, "What happened, Kess?" 

 "Nothing," she muttered.

He looked at her disappointed. "You know better-"

She turned to him impatiently. "Luke, sometimes you just have to take a lie as another way of saying, 'I don't want to talk about it right now!'" She leaned back into a tree trunk and slumped.

Luke nodded in agreement at his lap, "All right, but who else are you going to talk about it with?"

She blew up at her bangs and looked up to see the sky fading into dusk. "Nobody," she admitted. "Not a blasted soul."

Luke's eyes shot up having felt a twinge of hurt hit the Force. "Let me guess," he said casually, lifting a knee to wrap his elbow around it. "The news is out that you are a Jedi Apprentice, and one by one your friends and acquaintances are suddenly giving you more room to walk. . . so to speak."

Kess barely nodded, then chuckled weakly, "And I wondered why you didn't have a girl."

Luke smiled wryly. "They tend to get a little squeamish once they realize you can read their minds." He leaned both elbows on his knees. "So, tell me what happened."

She stood up and put her hands on her hips, "I'm not even interested in getting a date right now so it doesn't matter anyway. . . but I feel like the whole option of getting married and having children someday is totally out of the question."

"It's not out of the question-" he pushed himself off the ground.

"Oh really?" She spun around. "Have you looked at your own sex life over the past eight years?"

Luke straightened his shoulders and inhaled to speak.

"And don't give me any of that 'My sex life is none of your business' crap either." She stepped forward aggressively and pointed at him, "Because if my sex life is your business, then sweetheart, your sex life is mine. . . . Or lack there of, anyway."

Luke shut his mouth in sudden understanding of what this was all about.

Kess continued to chew him out without fear. "You are my Jedi Master and you are my Commanding Officer." Her lips stiffened as she faced him down. "But you are not my damned father, and you have no right to give or deny someone permission to ask me out on a blasted date!"

Luke forced himself to remain calm. He wasn't upset or angry, just a little defensive. "When I told you to use the Force on duty I didn't mean for you to peak into my private conversations."

She frowned and nodded, "Yeah, okay. I'll stop." Her fists clenched and her attitude thickened, "In about a year." She turned her back to him, frustrated, insulted and degraded. 

Luke closed his eyes in a silent curse and opened them up again to see her back. Her arms were folded at her huffing chest and she had every right to be upset, but that wasn't the point. 

Determined, he stood and stepped to her side. His voice was quiet and firm. "First of all, Kesselia, you know why I watched you and you know that I have stopped, and you watched me on the info for those very same eight years, so don't wave that at me as your victim-earned right to peek in on my private life. . . or lack there of."

She glanced at him angrily, "Actually, I heard it through the grapevine, like most people."

Luke decided to leave that one alone, and continued. "Second, the general public is still trying to get used to having Jedi around again. And until that happens, the only ones who are going to be close to you are the friends you already have. And the ones who are going to try to get close to you are the friends I already had. Everyone else is going to give you a wide berth and you are going to be lonelier that you've ever felt in your life."

She faced him with clenched teeth, "Then why-"

"Let me finish," he snapped, "I will tell Wedge and any other interested party who asks, that your social life is none of my business as soon as I am convinced you won't take a joyride with a relationship and turn to the dark side on me when some arrogant scum hurts you."

Kess tightened her teeth. "You're saying Wedge is some arrogant scum?"

His voice was bordering impatience. "That is _not_ what I said. Wedge is a perfect gentleman when he wants to be. But Wedge is not the subject of this conversation, he just happened to be the first one that asked. . . . Now, you are a Jedi Apprentice and you are doing very well, but you still fly off the handle at some pretty insignificant stuff and if you don't control it you are going to turn to the Dark Side."

Her gaze dropped to her feet with a tinge of worry in her brow. "I don't use the Force when I'm upset."

He leaned his face to her and whispered heavily, "All it takes is once."

Her voice was nervous and angry, "So I guess I'm grounded until my training is over? Are you going to slap a chastity belt on me too?"

He had turned away to walk back to the clearing but spun back, pointing at her, "That's exactly what I'm talking about, Kess! Your angry and frustrated and you can't control it." 

She waved her open hands at him as she followed. "You can't tell me that you have been able to stay at peace 24 hours a day for the last eight years. You may be a Jedi but you're still human!"

"I haven't," he stopped her, "but I control it. I put it aside until I can go somewhere and get it out. You noticed that this clearing and is worn in, and it's true. I come here, away from people, and away from problems just so I can be angry and be upset and be depressed. But if someone shows up, or if the commlink goes off, or anything happens that requires my attention to the real world, I turn it off like a power switch." He put his hands on his hips and stepped away, "You have to learn to do it too. Once you've mastered that, the rest is easy."

Kess quieted respectfully. He was right. He was always right. "What do you do now that I'm in the clearing too?"

Luke started walking again with a grinning shrug, "I'll just take my aggressions out on you."

Her mouth twisted in thought, _What if it's not aggression you need to vent?_ She turned and followed him through the trees. Luke did have a point, but that didn't mean he had any authority over whom she dated. She rose her voice, "Back to the subject of Wedge. . .."

"Wedge." He smiled, ducking under a low branch and strutted at a full gape towards the fallen log. "I've known Wedge since the Battle of Yavin. He's a fantastic pilot and one of my best friends."

She watched his back and could sense the small knot in his stomach. "But you don't trust him."

Luke didn't look at her. He distracted his sights with putting the dud lightsabers away. "Not true. I trust him with a great many things. But I don't trust anybody with you. Not yet. Not until you can control your temper."

"So, I am grounded." Her voice went distant. "By the time this is all over, I'll be so different that nobody's going to want to so much as have lunch with me." She slumped down on the log, accepting the dilemma, but disliking it. She didn't date much anyway, so it really wasn't an earth shattering disappointment, but not being allowed to (and probably not being able to later) left a bad taste in her mouth.

Luke's movements slowed as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He pursed his lips in thought. **_I'll__ have lunch with you. _But he didn't say it. He sighed and sat down on the log next to her. He had noticed that Wedge failed to ask again after a week, but took it as grounds not to have this conversation with her just yet. So, much for that idea. Luke resigned to getting it over with. **

After a moment of thought to figure out how to start, he spoke, "Love is a complex emotion enough as it is. When you add the Force as an element, the complexity just gets worse."

Kess grinned back at him, "Are those words of experience?" 

He shrugged in slight embarrassment. "I don't have a lot to tell you about the subject, but I think I'd better tell what I do know before you um. . . ."

An arrogant glint sparked in her eye trying to get him to say it out loud. "Um what?" 

Luke set his elbows on his knees and smiled caustically at the jungle. "Why did I have to get stuck figuring out Jedi Mating Rituals with one of the few species that requires emotions to procreate?"

She shrugged with a smile, "Look on the bright side, Luke. It'll break the ground for you so you'll be less nervous when you have to explain it to your kids."

He rubbed his face with both hands and let his fingers stop to cover his mouth. "That's supposed to be the bright side?" 

Kess chuckled, patting him once on the knee. "Don't worry about it. I don't have any plans before my training is over, anyway. So you can skip the lesson if you want." She dropped her gaze to her feet, locking her elbows at her sides.

He folded his arms on his knees and eyed her. His voice came out in almost a whine. "If you don't have any plans until your training is over, then why are you complaining?"

Kess stiffened. 

He sat up straight, watching her cross her ankles apprehensively. A grin grew across his face, "Two, two." 

Kess gritted her teeth avoiding his eyes. "That's not fair. You have all these little rules and regs about what I can talk about when, and what I can't talk about at all, I'm biting my tongue half the time. I am _not_ speechless."

He started, but when he felt the butterflies in her stomach, his lips parted into a grin. He pulled one leg over the log so he could straddle it, and faced her. "Fine, we'll take it completely off the record."

Alarmed brown eyes shot up to him, "What do you mean?"

Luke wondered what the hell he was doing, and decided that they could afford one completely honest conversation. Blue eyes twinkled at her. "Off the record," he said matter-of-factly pulling his lightsaber off his belt and tossing it onto the bag a few feet away. "You can say anything you want." His grin grew into a smile as he reached over and pulled her lightsaber off her belt as well. "No military ranks and no Jedi ranks. Just Luke and Kess."  Their names echoed in the back of his head. He liked the sound of that.

Kess watched her lightsaber land on the bag next to his and then looked at him skeptically.

"So tell me, why are you complaining?" His eyes twinkled brightly. 

His smile dimpled his cheek. He seemed to already know why, he just wanted to hear her say it. She gave him a defensive but bright glare from her eyes. "No, you are not doing this." She pulled up one knee to face him and pointed and accusing finger at him, "You are not going to take this off the record and make me admit to things you already know."

A warm tingle grew in Luke's chest and his grin grew into a smile, "Why not?"

Kess inhaled stiffly through her nose like she was impatient with him. She had to think long and hard for a good response. "Because you won't admit anything to me." 

Luke's beaming smile and flirtatious twinkle didn't fade. He folded his arms boldly. "What do you want me to admit?" he taunted.

Kess caught her breath and her eyes darted away. "I-" She caught a whiff of his cologne and stopped. She sighed away the warmth glowing from her insides. Now Luke was flirting with _her_. She wondered if this was another one of his tests.

He watched her saddened eyes stare at nothing. He felt her flustered nerves and her fuzzy heart. He watched her cheeks blush and her tongue lick her lips wet in thought. In the clearing of the jungle, forty kilometers from base, they were totally alone. No one would see. No one would know. No one would care.

She brought her leg over the log and straddled it to face him, leaning her weight on her hands in front of her. She eyed him accusingly, "I want you to admit that this is just another one of your tests."

His smile faded. Locked in her eyes, he barely shook his head. "This isn't a test." 

Disappointed and disbelieving, Kess backed away from him.

Desperately, Luke scooted forward on the log and leaned his weight on his hands. "If you had a reason to wait until your training was over…" he hesitated at what he was about to say, then breathed it, "would you?"

Her eyebrow rose at him, then she gave him a daring grin, "Yes, I would."

Luke caught his breath. Now what? He licked his teeth in thought as he stared at her. He wondered if he shouldn't. Then he wondered if it mattered. Then he wondered what she tasted like.

She leaned onto her hands, nonchalantly bringing her face closer to his. Her voice went low and sexy and expecting, "Are you going to give me a reason?"

Luke gulped. The debate tormented his mind as he was drawn to her like a slow magnet. No one actually told him that he couldn't kiss her before her training was over. She searched his expression and raised her chin to him. Then he realized he was already hovering his mouth and inch from her lips. Before logic took over, before he let himself change his mind about it, leaned further and kissed her. 

Her chest heaved with a quiet gasp as their lips folded together. The response addicted him. He scooted even closer and opened his mouth to her. Her tongue tasted like spring water and delicate fingers touched his forearm. He reached up and touched her face, cradling her cheek in his hand. With agonizing and gentle movements, the kiss grew more passionate and more hungry than Luke ever expected it to get. The decadence of it poisoned his senses and all his defenses came crashing down with a sonic boom. 

The kiss came to a slow, breathless end. Kess' eyelids fluttered open to stare at him. A bewildered smile grew across her face. For an instant, his dreamy eyes were overwhelmed. He was holding his breath as he debated on whether or not he could kiss her again. He wanted to devour her like he was starving to death. Out here in the middle of the jungle, no one would know.

Staring deep into her brown eyes, Luke caught his breath, closed his eyes and reached for another one -

"Luke," sounded a deep, stiff voice, "Stop."

Luke let out the pent up breath and pressed his eyes closed more. This isn't fair. He recognized Ben's voice knew he was in trouble. The butterflies were gutted from his stomach and left gnawing guilt in its place. He felt like Uncle Owen had just walked in on him and his girl in the living room. "You're timing is awful."

Kess' eyes moved to the glowing figure in the clearing and hardened.

"On the contrary, my boy." Ben said, crossing his arms in front of an ivory tunic, "It looks like my timing is just perfect."

Kess pulled herself off the log, facing the elderly, Tatooine dressed, brightly glowing, Jedi Knight. "You son of a bitch!"

Ben met her eyes firmly.

Luke shot off the log, "Kess!" He shook his head at her, not believing the amplitude of disrespect.

But Kess ignored him. "Boy, you do have awful timing." She pointed roughly at Ben with anger seething from her teeth. "If you wanted to a part of my life you shouldn't have left in the first place! You have no idea the mess you left behind!"

Luke's eyes widened and he took a step backward. Ben was staring at Kess with rightful superiority and Kess was attacking Ben about some subject he knew nothing about. 

"Luke," Ben said stiffly, and barely glanced at him, "Your original decision about training and waiting was correct."

Luke closed his mouth and inhaled. He looked at his Master with full responsibility, and overwhelming guilt of his mistake. Ben began to fade.

Kess stepped forward, "Don't you blink out on me now! I've got a bone to pick with you!"

His image brightened just to scold her, "No, Kesselia, you have a bone to pick with your father." With that, he faded to nothing.

Kess screamed at the empty space and kicked a rock, "You bastard!" 

As the echo of her scream faded the sound of the crickets and night birds chirped through the foliage in its place. Luke's eyes fell on Kess' back as the pieces suddenly fit together. . . the only people who called her Kesselia was her _family_.

"Kesselia _Kenobi_ Lendra?" he breathed in disbelief.

Kess dug her fingers into her bangs. "Yeah? What's your point? I told you he was a nobody. The bastard takes off for almost forty years and suddenly now decides to come glowing back into my life." She turned away fretting over it, pacing in front of him in the clearing.

Luke fell backward into the log and stared at her in complete shock. He remembered; over a year ago, as he was laying in bed in a meditation, Ben's presence opened a window to the Force. _'Her name is Kesselia Lendra,'_ Ben's voice had whispered as the scene focused on the young repair engineer. _'Be careful with her.'_

Luke covered his face with his hands, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kess spun around to him, still frustrated. "There was nothing more to tell you! That man abandoned my grandmother to attend the Jedi Academy and _never came back_!"

Luke closed his eyes in his hands and put a big puzzle together. 

_I haven't gone by the name of Obi Wan since, oh, before you were born._

He changed his name from Obi Wan to Ben when he went into hiding.

He went into hiding because the Emperor was killing all of the Jedi Knights and Ben hid Anakin's son to protect him.

He hid the Skywalker baby on Tatooine so he could not only watch over Anakin's offspring, but his own.

He left his wife and children to go into hiding, and they had to believe that that he was dead. . . 

and his family hated the Jedi for it.

Kess paced across the clearing, ignoring Luke's silence. "The guy dies years ago," she complained, "What the hell is he doing showing up now?"

Luke looked up at her and realized that Kess had absolutely no idea what her grandfather had been up to. He was a General, a Jedi Knight, and a hero of the Rebellion. How could her family not know? 

Kess muttered, "My father's going to have a Bantha when he finds out."

Luke dug his fingers into his bangs, sighing again. The wife and children hated the Jedi for it. . . .

They lied to her.

"He's right." Luke said heavily, "You _do_ have a bone to pick with your father."


	6. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17******

Coruscant was the center of the galaxy for as long as any culture had written history. It had been the office of whatever government was in charge for so many years that the entire planet that once was swamp and desert and ocean was now covered in hundreds of levels of city. Dusk painted the sky in shades of pollution and smoke and the Imperial Palace loomed evilly over it all. Kadaan stared regally out the window of his chambers deep in thought when Admiral Cheenan marched up behind him and came to attention.

"Master Kadaan, we have received a message from Mugwot Pon." Cheenan proudly announced. "He swears loyalty to the Empire and is eager to execute our suggestion."

Kadaan half turned to Cheenan. "Have we acquired the warheads yet." 

"Not yet, Master. The chempods are still being manufactured on X-Simpe. They are due to arrive within the month."

Kadaan nodded and looked back out the window. "Allow Mugwot Pon execute the plan. We'll see if he's as good of a kidnapper as he is a spy."

Cheenan clicked his heals and bowed before he turned to leave.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The New Alliance Council met nearly everyday but Luke was absent for nearly ninety percent of them because of pad operations and confidential missions. His presence wasn't required for most of them anyway. As the only Jedi Knight, he didn't have much to represent, and Leia competently spoke on his behalf when he was absent. But he wouldn't miss this meeting for the galaxy. His eyes smiled as he entered the Council Hall.

A representative of every intelligent race in the Alliance mulled around the giant oval table. Beautifully colored robes, skin, and fur brightened the scene of carved stone walls and electric lighting. He spotted Leia's flowing white dress and braided chestnut hair and strolled over to her and her husband with a grin.

Leia turned to him with a deceitful look in her eye, "Hello, Luke. Have you decided who you are voting for today?" Han walked up behind her, squinting in curiosity at Luke's playful expression.

Luke crossed his arms at his chest and met his sister's stare, "Bribe me."

Han's eyes popped out of his head. "Bribe you?" He almost coughed. "What happened to you?"

Luke half turned, suddenly embarrassed at his own words, "I'm kidding, Han."

Han gave him a cautious eye, "Okay, but that doesn't answer my question."

Luke shrugged, still grinning and rubbed his forehead, "I, uh, got a real taste of irony the other day. . ." he looked up again to see the look on their faces when he told them. "Kesselia's grandfather? I found out who it was."

A shadow crossed Leia's face and her tone dropped to a breathless seriousness, "If you tell me it's Vader I'm going to lose it."

Luke laughed out loud. Han and Leia watched him in bewilderment until the man's laughter slowly died. He looked at them out of the corner of a twinkling eye, and his tone dropped, "More ironic than that." He licked his lips and squared his shoulders. "Her _full_ name is Kesselia Kenobi Lendra."

Leia gasped, "She's Obi Wan's granddaughter!" 

Luke nodded, "But the ironic part is that she doesn't even know he was with the Rebellion, much less a General or a Jedi Knight. When he went into hiding with the Skywalker twins, his family had to believe he was dead."

Han's forehead wrinkled, "But he didn't go into hiding until after all that fun as a General, and that stuff was on the mass media."

"True," Luke admitted, "but it was also before we were born. Her parents would remember all that, and it seems that they never bothered to tell her." He shrugged at the foul tasting similarities. "Just like Uncle Owen didn't want me to know who Anakin really was; he didn't want me running off to become a Jedi like my father. Apparently there was a family argument about Ben's dedication, so her father has been lying to her to try to keep her from wanting to become a Jedi."

Leia started to look a little worried, "How did she react when you told her?"

Luke shot out at her like she was nuts. "I _didn't_ tell her. Her father's been lying to her, her father can tell her the truth. I'm going to have to take her back to Tatooine to face him about it. Can you afford to lose me for a few weeks?"

"When?"

Luke grinned indignantly, "After she's done overhauling my entire flight group." He shrugged, "Probably after the new Minister of State swears in."

Leia nodded at the floor, thinking, "We can work something out, but I want you both at that reception."

"I'll be there," he stressed. "But, you'll have to ask Kess yourself."

"Luke," Leia pleaded. "Everyone is dying to meet her."

Luke threw his hands up in the air. "Hey, I already got in trouble for people trying to clear her social life with me. It's none of my business."

Leia crossed her arms. "So invite her as a date."

Luke's eyebrow shot up.

Han sneered, "Don't even bother telling us you don't want to."

Luke's lips tightened into seriousness. "She's my apprentice, not my girlfriend. Stop acting like she is." He looked at them both, stepped backwards, and pointed roughly, "You invite her." 

He turned away and stomped to his chair at the giant oval table. The deep, soft, tone of the bell rang and the New Alliance Council moved to their seats to, among other things, vote for the next Minister of State.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The morning run, Kess suddenly noticed, had grown to five kilometers. She rounded the tenth loop around the grinder and trotted to a stop, wiping beads of sweat from her temples and panting, "You know, I think you just want me to run in the morning so you won't have to do it by yourself."

Luke stretched his arms as he walked to slow his pulse. He turned away so she wouldn't see him smile, but she could hear it in his voice anyway. "You really don't expect me to admit that, do you?"

Kess smiled briefly and sat down on the bleachers. She took a long slow sip from the giant plastic cup and looked up. The gears in her head were turning as she drilled her eyes into him. "One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to ask you a question that will get me and answer every time."

Luke strolled around on the gravel in front of her, "I always give you an answer. I just don't give you the answers you want to hear."

She threw the towel at him violently.

He giggled and caught it, stepping forward for the cup, "So, what's your question?" 

"Why should I bother?" She shrugged in premature disappointment.

Luke shrugged back and gulped down the water.

Kess rubbed her chin deep in thought, "Maybe I could get Counselor Solo to tell me."

Handing back the cup, he put his hands on his hips, "You leave Leia out of this. Quit beating around the bush, will yeah."

She watched his happy eyes and sensed out to his happy emotions to monitor for any change. "How did you know Obi Wan Kenobi?"

His eyes and emotions both went slightly nervous. He blinked and wiped his sweaty neck with the towel. "Well. . . it's-"

"Kind of a long story." Kess sneered at him, starting to get very aggravated about it, "Yeah, I heard that one already. You have so many friggin' long stories, you must be a lot older than I thought."

Luke hid his expression with the towel and spoke into it as he wiped his face. "It's actually all the same long story," his voice was muffled.

Kess' chin rocked back and forth in attitude, "We are gonna have a nice long talk when this training is over, buddy."

Luke sat down on the bleachers next to her, muttering, "I was planning on it. . .." He quickly tossed the towel to the side and looked at her, "Luckily, you won't have to wait that long. I've been able to deduce that half the story is going to have to come from your father."

She stared heavily at him, "You're really are gonna make me tell him, aren't you?"

He lowered his gaze and nodded, "I have to. As soon as this overhaul is over--"

Kess slapped her knees and shot up from the bench. "You have no idea what you're saying!"

"No," he agreed quietly, "but I can imagine."

Kess stretched her neck back and looked up at the sky. Her father was not going to take this lightly. She wondered if she could convince Luke to let her just tell her father over the phone so she could hang up on the man when he went ballistic about it. 

Suddenly, she winced right out of her fretting, "Wait a minute!" She spun around to face him. "If half the story comes from my father, and the other half comes from you. . .  then the stories are related."

Sparkling blue eyes looked at her soberly, "You are quite a detective. Are you sure engineering is your true calling?"

Her eyebrows knitted together pointing at the both of them, "_We're_ not related, are we?"

Luke's Adam's apple bounced as he swallowed. His eyes looked up at the sky above her and said very loudly, "Not that I know of!" 

Kess' forehead wrinkled.

Luke's eyes fell on her again. "You'll be fine. I won't go to your father's house with you, but I will go to Tatooine." He stood up wearily, picking up the towel and the cup to get ready to leave. "But, you have to face him, Kess."

Kess smiled dreamily into his eyes. "Is this gonna be my final exam?"

He pressed his lips together in thought, "Kind of a mid term." 

"I guess I'd better study then." Her eyes twinkled at him.

Luke grinned shyly at his feet, and looked up at her again, swinging the towel over his shoulder. "Guess so."

"May I ask another question," she said softly, "off the record?" 

Luke dropped his gaze again, licked his lip, and stared reluctantly into her eyes, "No," he breathed. "You can't."

Her jaw visibly hardened and sad brown eyes darted away from the stare.

"Hey," he said quickly, but when she looked at him again, his eyes had hardened too, "Forget it. . . . It was a mistake."

Kess gritted her teeth, "Well I, uh, I guess I'll see you on the pad." She stepped backward and turned on her heals to the south row of barracks. 

"See yeah," he whispered. Staring at the jungle wall beyond the grinder, he listened to her footfalls speed up to a run. He sighed deeply and turned to walk the other direction.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The lights in Luke's apartment were out except for one medium bright light near the dining table. Luke leaned his cheek heavily on his fist and pushed away what was left of his dinner plate. Then he pulled forward a black datapad with rounded character keys and switched it on. He drummed his fingers on the table for a second and then began typing more Jedi Apprentice notes.

**2.69.09.55**

**I understand why Ben told me to be careful with her. I just wish he would have told me from the start that Kesselia was his granddaughter. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if it would have made it better or worse. I can't help but think that, since Ben failed in the training of my father, it would only be poetic justice for me to fail to train his granddaughter. **

**I recently realized that he had said nothing to me about training her to be a Jedi when he pointed her out. But I can't think of another reason he would have opened that window to her. He seemed angry that day at the clearing. I wonder if there was more to his interruption than just reminding me of my Jedi Master responsibilities. If Ben disapproves**

His fingers paused and his typing hand balled into a fist. Sighing heavily, he pushed the datapad away, not willing to finish the sentence.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The vote was finally released to the public. Neilson yelled out to the mulling crowd of repair grunts to shut up and the fifty-five people went silent to here the radio. ". . .and we now can congratulate the new Minister of State of the New Alliance," the announcer said, "Leia Organa Solo! The swear-in will take place at a reception in two months and. . ."

Faces in the crowd smiled as the grunts shook hands with one another, suddenly talking loudly again. Kess' jaw dropped and she looked wide eyes at Neilson. "No way!" Neilson smiled at her.

"The Empire better be scared." Jory hooted out, "We've got a pissed-off princess in our cockpit!"

Kess shut her mouth soberly, but her eye twinkled as she watched Wedge high-five a handful of pilots and repair.

In the elaborate Council Hall, the crowd of politicians and Ambassadors cheered at the end of the press release. Luke gave his sister a hug and whispered into her ear. "I am so proud of you."

Han sipped from his wine glass and put a hand on his hip. He grinned ironically at General Dodonna and shook his head, "We're never gonna retire, are we?"

Mon Mothma had a peaceful smile on her lips and patted Han's forearm sympathetically, "In due time, my friend." The Chief of State passed him to congratulate Minister Leia Organa Solo, her new right hand in running the Alliance.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Luke took off his jacket and tossed it on the fallen log, then rolled up his sleeves, "You ever play tag as a kid?"

Her eyebrow shot up.

He turned on the dud saber with a twinkle in his eye. "I'll give you a ten second head start. One. . . two. . . three. . ."

Kess stumbled backwards and turned, igniting her dud saber and running full speed into the jungle. He waited to ten, but had caught up with her in a matter of seconds. The sting of the blade brushed her hip and she spun around to him with a growl.

Luke was already trotting backwards into the dew dripping woods. He smiled proudly, "You're it," turned around and ran, dodging trees and leaping over shrubbery.

Kess fought a grin and cussed under her breath, "You little-" and bolted after him.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Commander Skywalker noticed that when the pilots stood around, twiddling their thumbs, they just got in the way. They were all bored with being stuffed in the muster room, so he sent them all home. "But keep your commlinks close. Report every Monday morning for muster, and I'll just keep sending you home until we have something to do." 

As the pilots shuffled out off the pad, Kess stepped up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "You know, you can go home, too." She said meekly, "There's nothing for you to do here. Why don't you go get some rest and RELAX A LITTLE!"

Luke blinked at the sudden shouting, but smiled tiredly as he looked out over the pad. Every engineer in Rogue group was on an X-wing. Some worked while their shoulders bounced to the music. He turned to her, patted her on the shoulder in response, and started to shuffle his worried feet away, "Call me if you need anything."

**KerPOW**!

The small explosion sounded huge as it echoed against the pad walls. No matter where they stood, all eyes went toward the noise. Flames were shooting out horizontally from the back of Rogue 23 and bodies were stumbling away. All at once, all of Rogue Group personnel ran towards the craft, grabbing fire extinguishers and shouting out orders. The repair grunt in the cockpit had shut off the power immediately and was hopping frantically down the ladder.

The starboard thrusters were showered with a sticky white foam from four different directions and snuffed the fire almost immediately. Deep sighs were followed by questions of concern to the people who were near the craft at the time. Luke put his hand on his hips and sighed with a pained expression as he stared at the large portion of the X-wing that was charred black and covered with the sticky snow. 

Kess and the guilty repair grunt stepped up to the thruster, peering upward into the mechanism. "I don't know what happened," the grunt pleaded innocently, "I'd just re-installed the inertia dampers and power it up to run through the diagnostics."

Kess could barely make out the fried dampers in the mess, but one thing was obvious- They were backwards.

Lt. Lendra's blood started to boil. She closed her eyes and her fists balled up at her sides. One careless and obvious mistake just cost Rogue Group thousands of credits and another week on the ground. Thank the Force there wasn't another X-wing or any bodies parked behind it when the dampers blew.

Luke stayed several paces behind and bit his lips together to keep his mouth shut. He had to see how she would react to this.

Kess sucked in a sigh and turned to the grunt. Her voice was quiet and growing more helplessly disappointed by the second. "The dampers were installed backwards. When you powered them up the reversed polarity to the power conduits made them blow. . . Wait until it cools, then take off all the burnt parts. . ." Her head bowed, "We'll clean them up individually and reorder what we can't salvage."

The grunt sputtered an apology to her, "I am so sorry, Lieutenant."

Kess smiled weakly at him and patted his shoulder as she stepped away. "Don't worry about it. Nobody was hurt."

Luke watched her rub her temple as she walked away. Her attention was pulled by three R2 units that had rolled curiously out of the droid locker and she started shooing them back in.

Luke let himself smile at her back.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Dusk fell gently over the tiny downtown in South Base. Yana drove her speeder into the little city while calling out to her boisterous passengers, "The reason they broke up was because she walked in on him making out with Chief Drasden."

Kaila scooted forward in the back seat. "Can't be. I thought Drasden was a Tigrian? Human's can't mate with Tigrians, can they?"

Joanne turned around in the front seat. "Drasden isn't a Tigrian. Tigrians all have purple skin and long faces."

Yana shook her head as she drove. "Tigrians don't have purple skin."

"Yes, they do." Joanne swore. "That's they're number one identifier. They're skin is that lavender color."

Kaila turned to Kess in the back seat. Her chin was propped in her hand, starting deep in thought out the window. "Hey Kess, do Tigrians have purple skin?"

Kess seemed bored with the high-energy gossip she that she once thrived on. "Yes, they do." She answered with a melancholy sigh. 

 Joanne pointed a finger at Kaila, "See?"

The bantering went on as Yana parked the speeder and shut down the power. The conversation drifted loudly from Tigrians back to Chief Drasden, and then on to other tidbits of grapevine news as they girlies strutted their way around the corner. Kess followed behind with her hands in her pockets and her mind barely paying attention to the conversation. As Kaila held open the door for all of them, she looked inside with surprise.

The Mash Pit was packed. "Must be payday." Yana muttered as she stepped in.

Kess and Joanne reviewed the full tables in silence. Kaila stepped up behind them, "Is there a cruiser fleet in port or something?" The girls waited near the door with a half a dozen other bodies that were already waiting for a table. Yana quietly put them on the same waiting list.

Just then, a small crowd of middle-aged men brushed passed the girls as they were filtering toward the door. "Hello, Lieutenant."

Kess blinked and looked up to the man, not recognizing him. 

"Good evening, Lieutenant." One of his buddies said behind him.

"Hello." Kess said dumbfounded. She watched them leave, others of their party smiling at her as they left, and racked her brain for any memory of them.

Joanne leaned to Kess' ear curiously. "Do you know them?"

Kess shook her head.

"Baby!" Kaila suddenly squealed and threw her arms around a man who stepped out of the crowd. Rett D'monck's hands went straight to her waist and his mouth lowered to give her a big, happy kiss.

Kess grinned at them until Rett pulled away. "Hello there." He shined his lady killer smile at them all. "Why don't you come sit with us?"

In silent agreement, Yana took their names off the waiting list and the girls bumped their way through the crowded restaurant. Rett had a table large enough to seat all of them, where a plate of a half eaten patzia and wads of used napkins littered the top, but his original party was only him and a friend. As the girlies sat, Rett's friend leaned over to her Kess, "Hello Lieutenant." Kess paused with a perplexed smile to the young man as he casually said hello to the rest of the girlies as well. 

Rett punched the holo waiter button as he sat down again. "Four more ales over here! On the double!"

Kaila smiled happily at her new boyfriend. "What brings you boys to the Mash Pit tonight?"

Rett smiled back at her, "I knew I'd see you."

Kess sensed the overflowing arrogance and predator's deceit from Rett and smiled at her lap. Maybe, with Rett to distract her, Kaila won't drag Kess out to pick up men tonight. Kess watched silently as small talk sparked up among them and the ales slid onto the table. Someone decided to order another patzia for the women and the small talk turned into an argument of what toppings they wanted.

"I'm curious." Rett's friend said quietly to Kess, "Do we call you Lieutenant still, or is it Jedi Lendra now?"

Kess blinked at him, "Call me Kess." She looked him in the eye. "And you are?"

The man gave her his hand. "Dak." She shook his hand. "Dak Troman. Nice to finally meet you."

Kess sipped her ale with a curious eye. "Has Rett been talking about me?"

"Rett? No." Dak shook his head and grinned a little. "The vid. There's been a lot on the vid about you."

Kess blinked and nodded. The vid, of course. She was starting to get very tired. The white noise of conversation in the restaurant was a higher volume than comfortable and the louder conversation at their table was starting to get annoying. Bodies kept brushing passed their table as people went to and from the restrooms, the presence of so many emotions wafted into her Force senses as a big, loud muck, and her beer was starting to taste stale. 

Kess usually came here to the crowds and the noise to relax from her intense Jedi training and from the heavy responsibilities of Rogue Group being grounded, but tonight, it seemed that the ambiance of the Mash Pit was the last thing that would ease her tense shoulders. Kess buried her face in her palms for a moment, mentally and physically exhausted.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Lendra, " All eyes went to the finely dressed woman who approached their table with pride. "My name is Wubak. I am a reporter for GNN, the Galactic News Network-"

"Wubak!" Joanne called out with a smile, recognizing the semi-celebrity. 

Wubak smiled regally at the rest of the gang and turned to Kess again, "Would you allow me to buy you a beer?"

Kess grinned at the reported and held up her mug. "I already have one, thanks."

Wubak smiled wider, "Of course. Could I interest you in a small interview. The Galaxy has a few questions -"

Kess was already shaking her head. "No, thank you. I really shouldn't." Her discomfort with this showed in her face. Everybody seemed to know her and they wanted to know more about her. This limelight business wasn't as cool as it looked from the other side. Kess missed being faceless.

Wubak stepped forward urgently, asked questions anyway, "How much longer until you graduate?"

Kess took a large swallow from her ale and pushed away from the table. The girlies started to sneer at Wubak to leave the poor woman alone. 

"What is the relationship between yourself and Commander Skywalker?!"

Kess told her friends quietly that she was going home. The waiter brought the hot patzia to the table. Yana dug for a piece complaining about the lack of toppings. Someone from deep in the restaurant rushed up to Wubak to as similarly personal question to the reporter. Joanne was yelling to Kess not to leave because she hadn't eaten. Kaila was still complaining to Wubak about rights of personal space. The music was loud, and the Force churned with the high energy of the population. Kess put her hands over her ears, but that didn't help.

Rett leaned over to her quietly, "Would you like me to walk you home, lass?"

Kaila whined at him, talking through a mouthful of patzia. "She's a friggin' Jedi. Let her walk herself home."

Kess rubbed her lips together, her hands still over her ears and her eyes still closed, and dug in deep to find her peace and calm down. The noise faded to the background of her consciousness, the muck of everyone else's emotions floated into the distance, and Kess was able to relax a little. When she came out of her momentary meditation, she could handle the excitement better, but she realized she didn't have to deal with it at all.

Wubak was still there, looking eagerly for anything from Kess to report. "I'm sorry, Wubak. I'm, not prepared to answer any questions right now." When Wubak nodded subserviently, she gave Kess her card and begged her to call when she was ready for an interview. As soon as Wubak walked away, Kess stood… and was caught with a wave of dizziness. She grabbed the table stiffly.

The motion snared the girlies attention. "Are you all right?" Joanne asked concerned.

Kess shook away light-headedness, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just really tired." She moved away from the table, trying to leave all the noise behind her. "I'm going home."

"You wanna ride?" Yana offered.

Rett stood up with Kess. "No, Yana, you eat. I'll take her home." When Kaila glanced at him, he assured her with a kiss. "I'll be right back, lass. Finish your patzia." Without Kess really noticing, Rett followed her out to the street, wrought with concern. "Hey, Kess, are you sure you're all right?"

Back in the fresh air, Kess straightened her shoulders and sucked in a cleansing breath. "Yeah, I'm fine." She glanced at his worried eyes, "Really. I'm just tired. I've been busting my butt for too long and I need to catch up on my sleep. That's all."

Rett offered a hand down the sidewalk. "Well, I'll give you a ride home, all right. It's a twenty minute walk."

Kess nodded a thank you and strolled with him down the block. "So you and Kaila are an item I hear."

Rett smiled shyly. "Yeah." He was lost in a loving reverie for a moment. "She's fun to party with." He glanced at her and realized that she'd suddenly stopped walking.

Kess was looking into one of the hole-in-the-wall shops on the street with an accusing grin. Rett joined her and looked inside to find Luke Skywalker finishing a transaction and picking up a bag of newly purchased goods. As he stepped out, he said 'hi' to Kess and Rett.

"Spying on me?" she accused lightly.

Stepping to his speeder parked on the street, he shook his head assuredly, "No."

"Are you heading back to North Base?" Kess asked.

Luke slid into the driver's seat. "Yeah, you need a ride?"

"Yeah, drop me off at the barracks?" Kess turned to Rett. "Thanks for the offer."

Rett shifted and slid his hands into his pockets. "Are you sure you want to go with him?" He lowered his voice to her. "Isn't he the one who's making you so tired in the first place?"

Kess smiled at Rett. "As a matter of fact, Rett your right." She called out loudly as she opened the speeder door. "He is the one who's making me exhausted in the first place."

Luke powered up the speeder with a glance in her direction, "It's not my fault you grounded Rogue Group." As if that was the only thing that was making her tired.

Kess chuckled at him and waved to Rett. "Thanks, anyway."

Rett stood on the sidewalk for a moment, watching the speeder carry the Jedi pair away and around the corner. He sighed lightly and swiveled back to return to the Mash Pit.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Bzzzt. The doorbell echoed loudly through Kess' dark and quiet living room.

Joanne wrapped a robe around her shoulders and stepped out of her bedroom. 

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

"All right all right already." She complained to the door as she opened it. She found Luke on the other side, standing impatiently in his running clothes. She sighed impatiently at him, "Next time, just use your Jedi thing to help yourself in." She turned away from him and went back toward her bedroom.

"Isn't Kess up yet?" Luke asked.

"At this hour?" she whined. "I doubt it."

Luke pressed his lips together impatiently. "Could you wake her for me, please."

Joanne huffed and went to Kess' room indignantly, "Yes, _Master_."

Luke turned on a light in the living room as he waited, listening to Joanne's voice in the other room. But as the seconds passed, Joanne's voice grew from impatience to worry as it got louder. "Luke!"

Yana stepped out of her room, blinking the way the sleep in complaint. "What's with all the racket?"

Luke skipped to a trot into Kess' bedroom. Kess was out cold, still wearing the same shirt she had worn at the Mash Pit and not much else, and Luke could see this because she was only half way under the covers like she had barely made it into bed before passing out. 

He stepped to her bedside uncomfortably and shook her shoulder. "Kess?" He checked her pulse and checked her pupils. Those seemed all right. He shook her again. "Lendra!" Confused, Luke closed his eyes a long moment. In breathless suspense, Joanne and Yana watched the man do something invisible with the Force and exchanged worried glances.

"Good morning," spouted the sickening sweet voice of the alarm. "It is zero four forty seven. Get your butt out of bed and go-" Joanne slapped at the snooze button.

Luke opened his eyes and looked down at the limp body, "We need to get her to Med Lab. Either of you have a speeder?"

"I do," Yana nearly came to attention at the bedroom door.

Luke pulled Kess' arm over his shoulders. "Pull it around front." He tried to wrap her legs in the blanket as he picked her up with the other arm. "Joanne, get some clothes for her." 

Joanne started moving in a shot. "And for us," she pointed out rhetorically.

When Luke picked up the body with both arms, she hung as limp as a wet washcloth. In a worried rush, he carried her out the door.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

In the Med Lab waiting room, Yana was shaking her head in the chair, "The Mash Pit was packed last night. Anybody could have slipped something in her beer without us noticing."

Still in his running clothes, Luke set his hands on his hips. "_She_ should have noticed." 

Joanne leaned up against the wall with crossed arms. "Everybody was trying to talk to her too. Even Wubak form GNN was there wanting an interview with her."

Two One Bee stepped out of the hall and offered to an anxious Luke. "She is awake now." Kess stepped out behind the droid, awake and smiling, and zipping up her green coveralls.

"What was wrong?" Luke asked, still concerned.

Two One Bee answered mechanically. "Traces of kindlunditophyde in her digestive system."

A human doctor stepped out of the same hall, hurried to finish the explanation and shoo Two One Bee away. "Kindlunditophyde is a sleep drug," he explained turning to Kess. "It's given to patience with chronic insomnia. Have you been having trouble sleeping lately?"

Joanne shook her head. "Not even close," she stressed.

Kess shot a grin at Joanne and shook her head. "No. I haven't taken any medications for anything lately."

"How much did she have?" Luke asked. 

The doctor looked at him from under drawn eyebrows, "Enough to put her out for a couple of days."

Yana nodded with the decision, "Yep, somebody slipped it into your beer."

Kess wrinkled her nose at the idea of another kidnapping attempt. "If they were successful in knocking me out with some drug to get to me," she shrugged, "why am I still here?"

Silence fell over the crowd for a moment. There was no easy explanation to that question.

The doctor handed Kess the discharge datapad to sign as Yana and Joanne moved to leave. "Are you okay girly? We gotta report in to duty."

Kess nodded at them. "I'm fine. Thanks." When the Two One Bee stepped away, Kess turned to Luke. 

He gave her a scolding glare that she let it happen and turned away. 

With an exasperated sigh, Kess followed him out. "It's not my fault, damnit. The Mash Pit was crowded last night. There were dozens of people trying to talk to me."

Luke shoulders were stiff as he marched through the hall in front of her. "Don't explain it to me, Kess." He warned as he opened the door for her and paused to look her in the eye. "I'm not the one who's going to pay for it if the Empire gets you."

Kess met his eye a moment, huffed, and stepped out into the bright daylight. They walked silently together to his speeder until Kess blurted out as she opened the door. "And I had such a fucked up dream last night, too."

Luke raised a brow at the language but said nothing as he climbed in.

"It was too real to be a dream." She continued as if he were paying attention. "I dreamt I gave birth to a baby." She wrinkled her nose at the memory.

Luke paused before he powered up the speeder and glanced at her with a slow growing smile. "Biological clock ticking already?"

"No." She slapped his knee with a whine. "My husband was holding the baby in his arms next to my bed and he was showing the baby an action figure of you."

"An action figure?" Luke asked, not understanding, but not looking at her either.

"Yeah, you know. It's like a little doll." She held her fingers up to measure a four-inch action figure. "But you can't call it a 'doll' because boys play with them. It was you in your Jedi Uniform and a plastic cloak, carrying a little plastic lightsaber." She stared out the window in thought.

Luke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "So, who was this husband?"

Her voice was far away, "Don't know." Then she came back to reality. "It was so real. It was like the other dream I had."

Luke was only half paying attention to what she was saying as he pulled out of the parking lot. His mind was plagued with the kidnapping attempt and how close they came to getting her. 

Her voice was off in the distance as she remembered them. "I had one where I was sleeping on the couch and someone was trying to wake me up."

Luke pulled the speeder up to the sidewalk just in front of B Complex. "Kess, someone is _always_ trying to wake you up," he complained.

She ignored him and continued as she pulled off the straps, "And I had this one where I was playing sabaac with toothpicks. And just a few weeks ago, I had one where I was in bed with-" she was about ready to point at him, but stopped in her tracks and brought the pointing finger to her eyebrow, rubbing it uncomfortably. "With… that… husband…. I think."

Luke's flattered eyes smiled at the steering column, but the expression was wiped from his face by the time he looked her in the eye. "Kess," he said impatiently, "go to work." 

Kess avoided his eyes. "Right," she said quickly and hopped out of the speeder.


	7. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18******

Luke stepped into the grandest office in the Council Building with his hands casually behind his back. "You wanted to see me, Chief Commander," he asked unworried.

Mon Mothma turned looked up from her terminal and stood. "Commander, please come in." She stepped around her desk as he walked up. "I understand that you've been quite busy lately," she said almost casually.

"Yes, I have," he reluctantly admitted. 

She went to her desk from the front and swiveled around the face of her terminal. "In light that you are training apprentices now, you may want to consider resigning your commission."

Luke caught his breath and opened his mouth.

Mon Mothma read his look, as she stood tall again, "It is only a suggestion," she assured him. She motioned for him to look at the terminal. "Have you been aware of the media coverage of your apprentice?"

"Some. I-" Luke looked down and paused. The terminal screen was covered with the front page of a tabloid, of which, among other small pictures of other things, boasted a picture of Luke and Kess on the grinder in their running gear. Kess was on her knees, laughing at the gravel, and Luke was standing in front of her with his hands on hips, smiling lovingly down at her. The bold caption read, "Behind the scenes of Jedi Training."

His eyes shifted to Mon Mothma. "I just was trying to get her to run more."

Mon Mothma raised her eyebrows, "I didn't ask."

Luke closed his mouth and pursed his lips. 

Mon Mothma turned away from him. "The Alliance has been without a Jedi Guild for so long, the press is hungry to report about a new apprentice in training." She motioned to the terminal again. "It's just bad luck that your first would be a human woman. I wouldn't give the tabloids any regard," she met his eye again. "I just thought you'd like to know."

Luke nodded at her. "Thank you."

Mon Mothma went back behind her desk. "How is she faring with the apprenticeship, by the way?"

Luke sighed, "Well, she's…. She's a stereotypical Rebel trooper." He finally blurted out then lowered his voice. "She too playful, but she's getting there," he assured.

"Like the fencing duel," Mon Mothma nodded in understanding. "Hopefully she'll break some habits sooner than others."

Luke furrowed his brow. "Fencing duel?"

Mon Mothma looked at him quickly. "I understand it that Lieutenant Lendra was intoxicated at a party a few weeks ago and got into a fencing duel with one of her friends."

Luke's brow was furrowed harder, already expecting the punch line.

"Only she used her lightsaber against her friend's fencing sword."

Luke inhaled through his nose, crossing his arms at his chest. "Oh really?"

Mon Mothma folded her hands on her desk. "As her Jedi Master, how you deal with her acts unbecoming of a Jedi Knight is entirely your discretion…. But please remember how quickly some of our races pass judgment. You don't need me to tell you how frightened the people can get of a Jedi who's fallen to the Dark Side."

"No, Chief Commander, I understand completely." His eyes hardened in thought. "I'll take care of it."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess yanked the rotting piece from guts of Rogue 7 and tried to brush the dusty, dry grease from the corroded metal. Neilson peered at the gasket in her hand, "How long has it been since they were replaced?"

Kess shrugged, reviewing the tiny holes that were the culprit of the fuel leak into the cargo storage. "There's no record that they ever were. It seems your last Repair Sup was terrible at keeping documentation on this stuff." Her words came to halt and her eyes looked up to the travelway. What was a casual expression of confusion was instantly hardened with fear.

Luke stormed onto the pad floor in his Jedi Uniform with his fists clenched and stomped directly to them. His blue eyes had gone slate gray with anger and drilled holes in her deeper that his lightsaber would. Neilson and Kess were silently stunned and nervously watched him approach. 

As soon as Luke was in an arm's reach of her, he ripped her lightsaber violently from her belt and pounded away. "Follow," he hissed.

Kess glanced at Neilson and Neilson raised his eyebrows at her, "What did you do?"

She took a deep breath and shook her head. Biting her lips together, she straightened her shoulders and followed Luke into the ready room. The lockers were all shut tight from weeks without use and the benches were naked of haphazardly tossed T-suits or combat boots. Luke slammed his fist against the door control to shut it behind her and paced towards the back of the room.

Kess stayed near the door, clasped her hands behind her back, and gulped hard.

Luke spoke in a tense whisper. "The Alliance, the mass media, and the Council are watching every move we make in complete suspense about whether or not you are going to pass this training, and I will i_not_/i make any excuses for you." He stepped forward roughly, tightening his grip around her lightsaber. "I have worked very hard to regain the public's trust that I'm going to rebuild the Jedi Guild successfully. You have literally sliced that work in HALF!" His face was to turning red. 

Kess clenched her teeth at the first sight of Luke Skywalker flaming mad. Her palms started to sweat behind her.

Luke drew his lips into a thin line and stepped away for a few seconds, then from across the room, turned to her with angry sarcasm. "You want to show off? D'you want to brag?" His voice rose to a yell, "You want to wave this thing around like its a toy!?" He threw the hilt at her and it sailed in the air past her head. 

She shut her eyes tight and listened to the metal clang against the lockers behind her. It fell to the floor with a thud. 

"Then you'd better go find another Master to teach you because i_I WON'T TOLERATE IT!/i" ___

Kess was starting to get an idea with what this was about. She didn't think it would take so long for the news of the party to get to him, but at this point, it didn't matter. He was screaming at her with such unbridled rage, she was expecting him to reach out and strike her.

Luke stomped over to her, getting into her face, and hissed, "What's the matter, Kess? Am I scaring you? Are you afraid I'm gonna do something violent to you?"

The woman was shaking in her boots, but couldn't i_not_/i look at his fiery eyes. Her breath had stopped, and she wondered why she was the one who would have to be the first one to see Luke Skywalker turn to the Dark Side. She was so terrified of Luke's third degree that she couldn't respond.

Luke let out a breath and slowly backed away. The redness faded from his face, the anger in his eyes was replaced with firm warning, and his voice lowered to tense disappointment. "Then how do you think all those people felt when a drunk Jedi Apprentice pulled out her lightsaber at a party and started slicing things up?"

Kess blinked and looked into his eyes. His eyes weren't mad. She let her self breathe, figuring it out in a nanosecond. He wasn't angry at all. He was trying to scare the life out of her so that she knew what it felt like when she lost her temper on someone else. 

No one knew what Luke Skywalker was capable of. They feared him for every twitch of his mouth. And now Kess had joined the mysterious ranks as a person they could not control or predict. The fear of it was pure myth, brought on by Darth Vader alone, when a light Jedi turned evil for reasons nobody knew. Luke was showing her first-hand how most people would react to a pissed off Jedi. It was another lesson.

They were all lessons.

Luke saw her work so hard to keep her life as normal as possible, but her life was changing around her. If she didn't change her habits, she was going to find herself very alone, if not flat out killed. He saw the change in her eyes when she realized that his yelling was a part of the lesson, and immediately gave up the act. Though wasn't angry, he was heavily dissatisfied with her

His voice calmed, but the malcontent was stronger than ever before. "Sometimes the news takes awhile, but nothing gets by the Council. If I ever hear about one of these stunts again, i_especially if I hear it from Mon Mothma first_/i, your training will be canceled like that." He snapped his fingers just inches from her face.

Kess winced and kept her eyes shut so she wouldn't see the stare from his slate gray eyes.

Luke inhaled slowly through his nose and left the room.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kaila happily agreed to help Kess pick out a swimsuit, but of course, the first one she picked up was a sparkly black rag with only a single string all the way up the back. 

"Kaila, it's for training," she scolded impatiently. "I'm not gonna try to seduce the guy."

Kaila pushed her yellow-blonde hair behind her ear innocently, "So, you can kill two mynocks with one blast shot."

Kess stepped forward to the rack looking for something a little more comfortable, and sighed heavily, "He doesn't want me, Kaila." She swallowed back the pain and pushed away the echoing memory of his voice.

Kaila leaned onto the clothing rack, her eyes wide with sarcasm, "Yeah, and I've got a planet for sale!"

Little Miss Jedi tried to ignore her and pulled out a hanger of blue spandex, checking its label. "And I'll buy it if you get off my case about Luke."

Kaila stepped in front of her and patted the woman's shoulder. "Sorry," she said quietly. "It's just seems like what you say and what I see are two different things."

Kess met her eye, "Well, you don't see him yelling at me everyday, either." She turned away and started walking. "Sometimes I wonder which side of the Force he's really on."

Yellow-blonde eyebrows rose at her back and Kaila suddenly burst into a trot to keep up with her girlfriend's rapid pace to the dressing room. "What happened?"

She shook her head in a desperate attempt to keep Kaila from demanding the information. She dove into the small closet and swung the saloon-style door shut. 

Kaila crossed her arms and leaned up against the wall. "Something's bugging you, Kess," she warned. "You know what you're Master says when something's bugging you."

Kess' voice snapped from inside the closet, "Kaila, get off it, will yeah! If it weren't for that blasted, stupid, immature, i_farm boy-/_i" Kaila could hear the frustration in her voice growing to a loud growl as she fought to change into the swimsuit. The struggling suddenly stopped and Kess huffed.

"You are falling in love with him and he won't let you in.  Am I right?"

Kess stomped out of the closet with her white shirt was only half buttoned and bare feet. She tightened her fist around the wadded swimsuit. "I am not falling in love with him."

Kaila had to smile, "And I've got a planet for sale." She watched impatiently as her friend turn away in disgust, heading back to the rack of clothes. "Look, Kess. I know you. I know you better than you do." She leaned in on the short rack that Kess was aggressively ripping through, "And I know that you have been dying to meet the guy since you were a kid, you have been watching him on the media since the Battle of Yavin, and you and Nik have been dreaming about being Jedi Knights since you learned to crawl. You are not gonna stand there and try to tell me that you don't melt like an ice cube in the dune sea after one glazed look in those baby blue eyes of his."

Suddenly, Kess closed her eyes and brought her frustrations back to a momentary peace, but as soon as she opened her eyes again, that peace was gone. She spoke in a voice of defeat, "He doesn't want me."

Kaila whispered to her like a superior would, gently demanding the hot skinny on a Kess' suddenly foul temper. "What happened?"

Kess sighed and pulled two more suits from the rack, but laid them over top of the bar and stared into the air, "Promise me. . . no more Jedi jokes on the air." She looked up to her friend in seriousness, "No more jokes anywhere. If word of this gets out I'm gonna be running from here to Coruscant in the morning."

"I promise, I promise." Kaila assured.

Kess sighed again and picked up the suits again, "He kissed me."

Kaila chewed on her tongue to keep from laughing. "You say it like it's a bad thing."

"And then he said it was a mistake," Kess continued flatly. "He ripped my head off about my drunken stunt at the warehouse party. He won't explain what he knows about my grandfather. . ." She rubber her fingertips roughly against the rippled skin of her forehead and huffed in frustration.

Kaila rubbed her chin in sarcastic thought, "Now let me see. If I were to totally screw up all that emotional peace I was preaching, how would I do it? Hmm."

Kess whined at her, "Kaila, it's not funny."

"No," she agreed. "You're right. It's not funny. But maybe you should be trying to think like him for a few minutes." She leaned deeper into the rack and propped her head on her fist, "Think about it. He's trying to train you to be a calm, serious, peaceful Jedi Knight and he's gonna keep testing you to keep you on your toes."

Kess' jaw went crooked as she contemplated the idea.

Kaila continued, "Either that, or he's so friggin' lonely he can't keep his hands off the only woman he's around. He may be a Jedi, but he i_is_/i human."

Kess stepped back and pursed her lips in thought. "I don't think that that is part of the training he had in mind, girly."

Kaila shrugged, "I hope not. . . for your sake." Her face crumbled into an uncontrollable chuckle, "Cuz, hun, you'd fail miserably."

Kess had to smile because Kaila was certainly right about that, but inside, her heart was wilting away. All the tiny strands of clues about Luke's feelings for her unraveled as fast as her life had when she first met the Jedi Knight. Kess started wondering why she was doing all this in the first place.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

If Luke had the training on a plan, she couldn't figure it out. The intense exercise was practiced on an extremely irregular basis. (Besides the morning workout, of course.) She eventually tossed the ideas of impressing or attracting him with the clothes she wore. She had throw on anything durable to wear in case they would be playing guerrilla warfare. They would practice with remotes or dud sabers, hike for kilometers for no reason, or bounce around in bushes playing tag. 

Other times, he wouldn't have her lift a finger. They would sit on the grass patch in the back of the clearing and just talk for hours. He'd lay flat on his back and stare up into the ever-stretching tree branches explaining distant memories of his own training with Master Yoda and Ben. Kess would listen intently, studying his features and expressions, all the while trying to put his cloudy history together out of the jumbled pieces. But she still couldn't get him to talk about Darth Vader or Obi Wan Kenobi, and could get very little out of him about moisture farming life on Tatooine.

He would show her little tidbit tricks he'd learned about how to use the Force. She learned how to communicate ideas to animals during a curious visit from a floppy-eared wild cat. He taught her how to sense out an individual that wasn't a Jedi and hide her consciousness in the back of someone else's mind, watching a minute of life from that person's point of view. She had located and spied on Kaila for a few, brief seconds. Later on, she tried to do it on him, but he caught her and wouldn't let her in, scolding her lightly with a bright twinkle in his eye. 

Even when they weren't training together, he still had her working on her Jedi skills. He instructed her to meditate on a regular basis, and often Jedi trance herself to sleep if the reading didn't bore her enough already. He gave her book after book to study. The subjects spanned from dry politics to confusing religions, cultural sociology to multi-species psychology, and anything else he had that had even a mention of the Force or the Jedi. She would read late into the night in her room, at dinner, during her walk to work, but never could make the time to read as fast as she was getting the assignments. It worried her at first, but eventually noticed that he never tested her on the homework. He would only ask what she thought about the literature she had already read. He never pressured her to read faster, memorize it better, or even draw up some stupid book report.

She wouldn't have had the time if he did anyway. Her daily schedule left no room to maneuver. She'd awake before the alarm at oh-dark-hundred to run, then she'd rush home to shower and change, only to report for duty to the same guy. The hectic ground plan needed constant attention, requiring her to skip more lunches than she actually took. Luke never told her she was working too hard, and he never told her she wasn't working enough. And he would always stroll in from lunch, drop a box of take out food on her desk, and say very wisely, "Never skip a meal."

As Autumn approached, the heavy rains came and Luke preferred to stay inside and discuss the meanings of various hazy clues from the records. It was during these friendly arguments that she grew more comfortable with questioning his authority on the subject. There were far too many ideas in the books that she just couldn't take at face value. She would throw real life analogies at him as solid examples to base her principles on, often contradicting the actual Jedi code in the process. He would think about it for a minute and return with even more fat to chew on. They debated nearly every subject into the ground. Most of the time, they wouldn't get anywhere, but occasionally the conversation drifted into excited agreement and elation that they'd figured out one more mystery about the Force.

Somewhere along the line, Kess realized that Luke was becoming more of a friend than he ever was a Master. She often sat in the dark in her living room long after the girlies had gone to bed and remember the snapshots of giddy blue eyes or grumbling complaints. Her logical side would deny there was anything more than a close friendship derived from the only two Jedi in the galaxy. But her passionate side insisted there was a lot of emotion happening in his little cloud, and not the fine Jedi peace he so often preached about. And it was her passionate side that was relentless about getting him to show some of that emotion.

They had been sorting records in the same room since dawn and Luke had been in such a daze for most of the morning that Kess had to remind him that they had to break for lunch. She watched him quizzically as he cooked, wondering what was haunting him, but knowing better that to waste her breath asking about it. She sat at the tiny round dining table in his apartment and wrinkled her forehead when he abruptly slid the plate in front of her. Without a word, he sat down and picked up his fork.

Kess watched him stab at a piece of meat. She thought about it and figured that, instead of asking him what was wrong, she'd asked him something that would rile him, and that would get him talking. Maybe she could even manage to steer the conversation in a particular direction. She blotted her lips together to fight a grin and adjusted her seat. Wording carefully in her head first, she said, "Tell me about the last woman you were in love with."

Luke's chewing paused, but he didn't look up, "Why?"

"We never did finish that conversation before it went off the record, and I'm still curious about what's legal." She looked at her own dish but realized that redirecting her eyes would not change the fact that he could read her like a book. "Besides, like you said, who else am I going to talk to about it with?"

Luke sighed impatiently, still not looking at her, "I told you to forget it."

She clenched her teeth for a moment but quickly calmed her temper and spoke matter-of-factly. "That's not what I'm asking about. You said that you wanted to explain it to me before I went 'looking'. . . . so I'm asking in regards to that explanation."

He leaned an elbow on the table, drilling his eyes into her, "What happened to your plans of waiting until your training is over?"

Kess raised her voice because, to her, it was obvious, "Well, if it was such a big mistake then maybe I should consider changing my plans." 

His expression didn't change like she'd hoped, but those blue eyes would have carved holes in her head if he was on the dark side. He inhaled slowly and lowered his gaze to his plate, looking at (but not seeing) the slice of vegetable he decided to fiddle with.

Luke's chest felt bruised. Thoughts of duty versus desire plowed through his mind. He thought about the Master versus the Commander versus a teenager's need for play. But there would be time for play later. . . after the training was over. They were friends now. Close friends, but just friends. And it had to stay that way. If the apprentice thought that she had her Master wrapped around her little finger, all the discipline of the Jedi training would dive right into a black hole.

The silence was growing heavier as the seconds clicked, but he had not yet said, 'I'll tell you when your ready', or any of his other common denials of response. Kess had almost given up and lowered sad eyes to her plate.

"Her name was Gariel. . ." he said quietly, "Gariel Capistant. She was an ambassador on the Bakuran system." His movements quickened and he brought up the bread roll to his mouth, pretending (unsuccessfully) like the subject didn't bother him.

Kess was nearly staring in shock that he was actually answering her personal question, but managed to keep chewing the bite in her mouth.

He looked down at his food as he spoke of it, playing with the food with his fork. "She was Force sensitive but refused to learn how to use it. She believed in that Balance religion I told you about. The one where everyone is supposed to be half Dark and half Light. . . . So to her, the Jedi, being all Light, were heathens."

Kess picked up her glass as she eyed him, "That had to be a serious flaw in the relationship."

He smiled wryly with a tiny shrug. "There wasn't one. She didn't like me from the start because of that." He sighed again and suddenly resumed eating. "So, I guess I never had a chance."

Kess kept her voice low and gentle in case he would suddenly shut up as soon as he remembered who he was talking to, but she was too intrigued about the woman who had turned Luke's head to try and keep silent. "What did she look like?"

He talked with his mouth full, "She had one green eye and one gray eye, and long reddish brown hair." Luke stared at the air as if remembering the woman's eyes.

"Do you still love her?"

Luke didn't break his stare at the memory, but squinted a little, barely shaking his head, "No. . . . When she was around, my Force senses tingled." With small movements, he wiggled his fingers in the air. "I think that it was that tingling that I liked so much. Not Gariel herself."

He suddenly pulled himself out of one memory and compared it to another, "It was different than. . . than the woman before." He smirked at the irony as if it was fresh, "But I guess it would be."

Kess searched his distant stare with a curious grin, "Why?"

Luke finally looked at her, the humor of the situation still smiling in his eyes and gave himself permission to tell her at least that much of his long story. "There was this woman," he announced, and leaned his elbows on the table. "I started falling the first moment I saw her and I grew to like her more the more I got to know her. She was beautiful and bold, strong and stubborn." His tone dropped, "but she wasn't interested. She fell for one of my best friends." He almost started chuckling at it. 

Kess started squinting at him as she began to wonder if she'd met these people. It seemed so by the way he was talking.

Luke's eye twinkled at her, he picked up his glass and said just before he sipped, "And then I found out that she was my sister."

Her eyes popped out of her head, "Leia?!"

Luke smiled tightly and sat back to start eating again, "Yeah, Leia. . .. My 'long story' is full of those little paradoxes." His blue eyes quickly looked to her. "And that's not an understatement."

Kess giggled at him, shaking her head in sympathy.

Luke pointed his fork at her, "And that stuff is strictly confidential, by the way. If I hear any jokes about my sister on the air, there will be hell to pay."

She was still giggling at him, "I won't tell anyone. Besides, I don't think anybody is stupid enough to crack jokes about the Minister of State on the Ops channel." She swallowed some wine and licked her lips, "Does Solo know?"

Luke inhaled deeply, and nodded, wide eyed, "Oh yeah, he knows."

Kess began to relax because he had begun to relax. She noted her success in the back of her mind: she found a way to get Luke talking about personal stuff. "Sounds to me like you always pick the one's you can't have. No wonder you haven't had a girl in eight years."

He nodded at his plate with weary smile and forced himself not to look at her, "Tell me about it."

Kess smiled warmly at her lap still having a hard time believing Luke's poor boy story.

"What about you?" he suddenly asked. "Tell me about your last love."

Her eyes fluttered in shyness and she looked at her glass, "There's not much to tell really." She bit her lip and cursed the plan that backfired on her.

"Bantha fodder," he said through a smile and a mouthful.

Kess glanced up, glanced away, and shrugged. "Okay, um. . . He was a pilot, he was arrogant, he was greedy, and he wanted me to arrange my life around his flight schedule. I did somewhat, for a while. But I found out that half of what was supposed to be a flight schedule was another woman that he'd also conned into being at his beck and call."

Luke's eyebrow raised and muttered a sincere, "Sorry."

Kess shook her head, "Actually, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. We were more," she squinted, trying to figure out how to describe it, "just filling empty spaces for each other. I don't think we were ever actually in love. I was seeing him for several months and I don't think we ever progressed past just being close servicemates. After it was over and I thought about it, I realized I was only interested in him because something about him reminded me of Rix."

Luke tried to act like he wasn't engrossed in the tale, and continued eating, "So, who was Rix?"

Kess lowered her gaze to her plate, still feeling the echo of pain and guilt in the memory. "Rix wanted to settle down, marriage, children, all that flak. And I wasn't ready. I wanted to party, stay in the Rebellion. Finally, we had sat down and talked about it. Seriously. And we agreed that as soon as the war was over, we'd go. We'd find a nice quiet planet with a nice quiet place." Her voice went cold as she poked her fork at her food, "A few weeks later, we went to the Battle of Endor. I was on the Mon Taraka. . . and Rix was on the Liberty." 

Luke stopped chewing. He remembered what had happened to the Liberty. The memory was clear as a crystal goblet. The Rebellion fleet was trapped between a half built Death Star and several fleets of Victory Class Star Destroyers. TIEs and X-wings buzzed around like mad flies, the shield wasn't down yet, and the Rebellion already thought that their odds were poor. But a green bolt of searing power shot out from the eye of the Death Star and blew the pickle-shaped, Mon Calamari Cruiser Liberty, into instant space dust. 

Kess stood on the docking bay of the Mon Taraka in heart crushing disbelief, staring at the sudden chunk of empty space in the middle of the battle. Kaila hurried to her, stepped directly into her stare and put her hands on the woman's shoulders. With a careful and firm voice, Kaila looked deep into Kess' pained eyes and said, "Cry later." 

Kess inhaled deeply and knew the woman was right. They instantly matched the racing feet of the engineers around them, trying to get as many Y-wings patched up as possible to get back out there and fight.

Her and Kaila weren't best friends until that very moment. Kaila herself had lost several close relations that day, and on the very first Victory Night when the Rebellion celebrated the winning of the war, they leaned into each other's shoulders and cried. 

Warm fingers touched her forearm. "Are you all right?" he said gently.

Kess blinked and smiled weakly when she saw his concern. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was a long time ago."

'There will be others, girly girl.' Kaila had said years ago. At that time, her words of comfort were simply annoying. 'You just gotta get out there and look for 'em.' Kess smiled wider at the memory of her girlfriend's preaching. As soon as Kess stopped crying over Rix, Kaila started kicking her rear end to go fill the void in her heart with someone else, and the girly had been doing it ever since.

Kess grinned at the bittersweet memories of Kaila's friendship and brushed off the old faded pain. She looked up at Luke and picked up her glass, desperate to drop the subject and talk about something more lighthearted. "So! What is so different about dating when you're a Jedi?"

Luke grinned with warm pride at how her sour grief was quickly controlled. His smirk widened when she met his eyes, and he told her in complete honesty, "I honestly have no idea." 

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Lieutenant Yana Deitrik sat at her station with a headset comfortably fitted over her braided chestnut hair. The glowing letters from the terminal screen and the colorful LEDs sliced through the usual darkness of the CIC bunker and shined geometric designs on her face. Captain Solo watched the screen over her shoulder, but Yana was used to that. He scratched his chin and leaned onto the console, "Try a tetalin descrambler," he said. 

Yana nodded and typed. The watched the screen for a moment and she shook her head just as Captain Solo sighed wearily. Yana looked at her fingers for a minute, then typed more as she tried something else.

Captain Solo turned around and scratched his head, reviewing the other security personnel and military leaders that mumbled in the darkness. Then, from the hallway of lighted glass stat boards, in rushed his wife with the kid at her heals.

Solo crossed his arms as they approached, "Does the name Mugwot Pon mean anything to you?"

They both shook their heads and stepped up to look over Yana's shoulder.

"We've tried all the Imperial descramblers we know," Solo explained. "And I was going down the list of codes some of the gang lords use. I can't get a match."

Leia read the addresses of the message. "It's from Coruscant?"

Han raised an eyebrow, "Its from 'Master Kadaan' on Coruscant. Now how many people call the Supreme Prophet 'master'?"

Luke pressed his lips together in thought and murmured to Yana, "Do we have the ometako descrambler?"

Yana repeated the word to him to make sure she heard it right and began to type. Han squinted at his brother in law, "Why don't I know that one?"

Luke glanced at him briefly and explained as he sat down next to Yana. "It's the code Boba Fett used to communicate with Lord Vader during his trip from Cloud City to Jabba's Palace." He gleaned forward and watched the strange characters turn into letters one by one, "You were slightly indisposed at the time."

Han would have made a retort, but his eyes and Leia's eyes watched the screen intently, waiting for the message to come clear one letter at a time.

**TO:    Mugwot Pon****  **NET:   MUGP77222 @CORSKT.NET****

**FR:    Master Kadaan   NET:  MSPK00001 @CORSKT.NET**

**Ready mynock only. Keep blue secured. Awaiting signal.**

Leia swallowed and spoke softly, "Looks like a plan is about to hatch."


	8. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**2.69.11.16**

**The message we intercepted yesterday was a little disquieting. We've always had Imperial spies floating around, but now I feel like they're closer than I can ignore. I'm worried that this Mugwot Pon is after Kess, though there is no actual evidence to substantiate that. And I'm not worried about what the Imperials want with her so much as I'm worried about her reaction to them if she's captured. **

**She is learning at such a break-necking pace, it scares me. I can easily sense Ben's strength in her now, but she greatly lacks the discipline she needs to be a Jedi. She makes jokes when I'm trying to be serious. She wants to play when we're supposed to be training. She complains like a teenager and shoulders responsibility like an Admiral. And she still has to remind herself to keep her temper, or calm a fear.**

**I wish I could take her to face her father now, but I have to wait for her to finish the overhaul. She needs to know the truth about Ben. And after she passes that, I'll tell her about my father. I keep having to calm my own anxiety about it. I hope she'll forgive me for not telling her already. I just want to get that part over with.**

**Hell, I want to get this all over with.**

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

When the meeting was over, the flowing robes and stiff uniforms of the Council seemed to all stand up at once. Luke wiped his hand over his face in momentary exhaustion, but wouldn't let himself feel tired for more than a second. He grabbed the datapads off the table and pushed himself out of his chair, nervously spying Leia at the far end. He thought about how to word it as he weaved between the bodies and sat down in the chair next to her. 

Leia glanced up from her data work but continued to shuffle cards around quickly, tapping in quick notes here and there. "Hi, Luke."

Luke rubbed his lips together, "Hi." But continued to play with the wording of the request in his head.

Brown eyes suddenly drilled into him, but a motherly smile crossed her face, "What's the matter?"

Luke tapped his thumb on the arm of the chair, "I need you to do me a favor."

Leia dropped the data work and leaned back in her chair with a curious grin. A few moments of silence passed and she shrugged lightly, "So? What's the favor?"

Luke chewed on the inside of his cheek and stared uncomfortably at the tabletop, "Kess needs to learn a Jedi trick that I can't teach her."

Leia raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for the punch line. 

The farm boy glanced at her nervously for a moment and gave in. He leaned over and whispered a brief explanation in her ear. Leia listened intently, but before he was finished, her face wrinkled into laughter. 

Luke backed away and pressed his mouth. 

She shook her head and looked at him, still trying to control the humor, "Well, if you can teach me how to do it, then why can't you teach her?"

"It's a little _different_, Leia," he scolded.

She continued matter-of-factly, "If you ask me, I don't think she'd mind."

Blue eyes narrowed at her.

But his sister continued to giggle at him and patted his knee, "Okay, okay. I'll take care of it, you just tell me what to do."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess stood in the middle of her living room floor, stripped down to her underwear. Her roommates and Kaila sat giggling in their drinks in the sitting area watching the golden droid fumble with the measuring tape, "Left your arms, please."

Kess blew up at her bangs and lifted her arms. "Threepio, you are about one multipurpose droid."

Threepio straightened his back at the compliment, "Why thank you, Lieutenant. I've always prided myself on being versatile." The relays buzzed quietly at her measurements were recorded into his memory banks. "There, now." He stood upright again, "I shall have a tailor fit you an exact replica."

All three girlies shot out of their chairs at once and Kess stepped forward to him as well. "Oh, no. Not and _exact_ replica."

Kaila held one of Threepio's shiny forearms, "You are not putting her in that same uniform."

Yana pulled at the droids metal fingers, "You have to edit the design to be more suitable for a female."

Joanne leaned over the back of the couch, "Yes, a Corellian cut on the tunic would be nice."

Threepio's neck servos almost fried as his head jerked from one comment to another and finally landed on Kess again, completely baffled, "But Master Luke-"

Kess wrapped her arm around the droids tall shoulders in a friendly gesture to pull him to a chair, "Master Luke knows nothing about _style_, Threepio."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

A cool, dry wind blew brown and white leaves into tiny whirlwinds along the sidewalk. The small downtown-like street of South Base was quiet in the late evening. Patrons huddled inside the few establishments that were still open. Street lamps dimly glowed yellow on the occasional speeder that drove by.

Kess stuffed her chilled fingers into her front pockets and brought her shoulders to her ears to let the jacket's collar protect her neck from the bitter wind. She waited apprehensively in front of the Mash Pit, listening to barely audible music from inside. She blew up at her bangs with a sigh and sensed out the approach of her date. Casually, she stepped to that direction until a single body came around the corner. 

The woman was dressed in faded jeans and rugged hiking boots, a burgundy blouse and a baggy, brown leather jacket. Mahogany hair was braided in a tidy figure-eight bun behind her ears, its upper-class neatness was the only outward sign that this woman was royalty.

Kess raised a sarcastic eyebrow at Leia's clothing, "Day off?"

Leia's eyes smiled at her. "No," she admitted. "This is a meeting between friends, not a political move."

Kess gave her a half grin and turned to the door, "You want me to feel comfortable with this." She pulled it open and offered Leia to precede her inside. "Luke's been having me read up on subconscious psychology in politics."

Leia nodded a regal thank you as she stepped into the warm air of the restaurant and complimented Kess' observation. "And it is just as important to be able to see through subconscious psychology as much as it is to know how to use it."

They slid into a corner booth where the high backed chairs would help guard them from any casual observers. Slow music drifted through the casual conversation of the other patrons. Leia let Kess order a patzia and ale, and when the two-inch tall holo-waiter sunk back into the wall emitter, and uncomfortable silence fell over them.

Kess brought her elbows to the table and folded her fingers together. "So, um, what brings me the pleasure to have an incognito dinner with the Minister of State?"

Leia's deep brown eyes smiled wisely at her. "You really get down to business, don't you?"

Kess shrugged lightly. "I've been plagued with curiosity since I got your message. I can think of only one thing that Luke would send you to talk to me about instead of tell me himself." She watched Leia's eyes, expecting an innocent denial that Luke had initiated this. 

Leia grinned and leaned back in the booth, "And what might that be?"

Kess licked her lips nervously and looked at her fiddling fingers.

Leia crossed her arms at her chest as she watched the bold woman suddenly turn shy. Her heart warmed at the situation, convinced that she was looking at her future sister-in-law. Instead of pressuring Kess to answer, she explained freely, "My brother has been a lonely man for a very long time. Han has been trying to pull him out to the cantinas for years to try and get him to chase women like pilots are supposed to. But Luke is, for obvious reasons, not interested in any woman that isn't Force sensitive. And they are few and far between."

Kess listened like a shy little sister. The anticipation of what she would learn about him tonight excited and bruised her attraction to him at the same time.

Leia continued, "On the other hand, Luke is your Jedi Master and will not jeopardize your training with his own wants. Getting you to your Jediship is his highest priority right now."

Kess chewed her lower lip at that and realized how exposed her emotions were to Leia too.

Leia's voice softened further. "Deep down inside, he knows how you feel about him, even though he denies it, and he's afraid that you are going to take a certain lesson the wrong way. So he sent me."

A pair of frosted mugs was placed in front of them, overflowing with froth. Kess waited until the bartender stepped away and swallowed the anticipation. "So, what's the lesson?"

Leia sipped the red-gold ale and brushed off the foam mustache with her finger. She smirked with a touch of her own discomfort, "It's a trick that calms sexual frustration."

Kess giggled into her beer until she could calm herself enough to swallow the liquid in her mouth and then laughed out loud.

Leia chuckled with her and continued, "He figured that it was a girl thing. Don't ask him about it because he'll only deny it. He said he's been meaning to teach it to you for a while but said that if he brought up the subject with you, you'd walk all over him about it."

Kess' eyebrows jumped up. "Walk all over him?"

Leia nodded, "His exact words. He mentioned something about your grandfather showing up to remind you both to behave."

Kess' mouth opened to a smile, "He told you about that?"

Leia's brows furrowed, "Not really. He wouldn't explain further." Her chin lifted easily. "Will you?"

She'd only revealed it to Kaila so far, and Kaila had kept her mouth suitably shut. Leia was certainly trustworthy, but she and the Minister of State weren't close. But Kess needed to understand Luke's side of it better. She was still too wounded with rejection and it was getting in the way. Kess pressed her lips together and smiled into the memory with reluctantly amorous eyes. "He kissed me a few months ago." She inhaled and tried to smile at the big sister, shrugging a guilty shoulder. "He said it was a mistake."

Leia smiled warmly at the girl, "No wonder he was afraid you'd take it the wrong way."

Kess thoughtfully wiped up a line of dribbling froth from the side of her mug. "Actually, I don't know how to take any of this anymore." Her eyes saddened slightly, "He's worked very hard to convince me that he's not interested."

Leia leaned onto the table at her and lowered her voice. "Don't take the Master at face value, Kess. There's a lot about him that he's not letting you see yet simply because you haven't finished your training."

"What is he going to let me see after I finish?"

Leia's smile warmed wisely at Kess. Her eyes confidently admitted she knew much more than she was willing to reveal. "Be patient. You'll get through."

Kess could hear in Leia's voice that the warning didn't need to be said, but was spoken more as a grant for permission. Kess grinned at Leia with a sarcastic bow of her head, "Yes, your Highnessness."

Leia laughed at her, but sat up straight and shook a finger casually in scolding. "Eh, you're not allowed to call me that," but she was still chuckling when she sipped her beer again.

The guarded girl talk drifted into easy chuckles as the evening progressed. They talked about Luke and Han, and then the conversation of men-in-general coalesced with men's general reaction to Jedi-trained women. 

Leia quickly showed Kess the pressure point in her Force print that diffused every ounce of sexual desire. She mentioned that she thought it could be performed on other people but made Kess promise not to ever tell Han that Leia knew the trick existed. By the time dinner was over, they chatted easily as friends even though they had little in common, which was exactly what Leia was hoping for. 

When Kess offered a handshake good-bye, Leia stepped over and gave her a gentle hug. She strolled back down the street, stuffing her hands in her pockets and suddenly stopped and turned back around, "Oh, by the way, thanks for saving my life."

Though her sentence was casual, Kess could sense Leia overwhelming appreciation for the heroic maneuver on the Frakkan system. In slight embarrassment of it, Kess shrugged, "I'm a Jedi. It's my job."

"You are that," Leia's shining smile nodded in agreement. "Good night."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

Luke and Kess had hiked up the top of Toban Ridge and over a kilometer along its cliff. The Ridge crumbled to a rocky slope and a river carved its path through the jungle, rippling over large, moss-covered stones. The water poured over the crumbling ridge and into a peaceful eddy twenty feet below.

"Take you're clothes off," he said without looking at her.

Kess smiled sarcastically at him, "Why, Master Luke! I had no idea."

He shot her a glare and began to strip down to his swimsuit.

She nonchalantly watched him out of the corner of her eye as he peeled the fabric from his skin until she realized that this was about as naked as she would ever see him and decided not to tease herself with the fantasy. As soon as she stripped down to the slightly conservative, white body suit, she opened her mouth to remind him that she didn't know how to swim. 

Luke didn't give her the chance to speak and took her hand, pulling her into his bare chest. With the other hand, he grabbed a long thick vine.

Kess gasped at the motion and went wide-eyed when she saw his hand on the vine. She looked up into his smiling eyes and gasped. "You're insane!"

Luke held her close at the waste with a muscular arm and stepped to the edge of the stone slab. "Better hold on."

Kess shot her arms around his neck and closed her eyes. Before she could catch her breath, he'd kicked off the short cliff and they swung in the air over the bubbling eddy. The cool wind whipped her hair over his shoulder and he let go several feet above the water. They fell into the warm pool with a giant splash.

Kess scrambled to keep her head above the water and immediately grabbed his forearm to keep from drowning. Luke wasn't struggling. He let her have his arm and backed away from the short waterfall to find the underwater ledge, pulling her with him. She was white knuckled on his arm, splashing around frantically and spitting water from her mouth.

"Kesselia," he smiled. "Stand up."

She looked up and saw that he was standing waste deep in the churning water. Stretching out her legs, she found the ground and proceeded to yell at him. "You're crazy!" She splashed at him wildly. 

Luke laughed at her, trying to protect himself from the flying water. "C'mon, we've got work to do."

The river was warmed by a hot springs high in the mountains and the air bubbles from the waterfall made it easy to float. The exercise was to float on your back, close your eyes, and just relax. The warm water muted most of the human senses and all that was left was the Force. She wasn't seeing or feeling, and she could barely hear the white noise from the waterfall. Her mind expanded into the sensation so thoroughly that she felt like she could reach out to the burning gaseous planet overhead and grab it with her hand.

She closed her hand around the remote and pulled it from the air. The living room of her apartment was lit only with bluish white light from the kitchenette, and her roommates had gone to bed hours ago. She latched the hilt of her saber to her belt and fell back into the living room chair. Staring at nothing in the darkness, she pulled the braids from her hair and sighed. Her movements slowed and eventually stopped entirely as her mind relived a strong memory.

Her eyelids lowered and she let her head fall back on the chair cushion. She sighed the burning emotion away. . . again.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

Bored stiff, Luke had strolled out to the pad floor and sat down in a broken chair that was pushed up against the wall. He faded into the paint as much as possible to watch the Repair gang in action. Not far away was the row of desks full of Floor Supervisors. Kess seemed like she was pacing them, when in reality, she was simply jumping from one problem to the next. He noted that she'd established a first name basis with almost everybody, and the Floor Sups were no longer shy to report a mistake or carry out orders.

During Luke's observation, he realized that the biggest reason that they respected her so quickly was not because of her rank, and not because of the lightsaber on her belt, but because she was just as filthy as they were. She didn't stuff herself in an immaculate uniform and hide in the office like their last Repair Supervisor. She treated everyone with human kindness and respect down to the simplest droid and she felt no better than the lowest ranking grunt.

It was a fine trait in a Jedi Knight.

"Huh?" Kess curled her nose at Ashten.

So, Ashten said it again. "Rogue One's got a loose landing foot."

Kess energetically swiveled her heals to the craft in question, looming no more than two meters from where she stood and scratched the back of her head as she strolled slowly to it. Ashten pushed a dark green wisp of hair behind her pointed ear and explained why she hadn't noticed the problem before. Kess waved a hand in the air, not really interested in the reasons, and squatted in front of the craft's foot to try to think of a solution to the problem.

A loose landing foot was not terribly difficult to fix, unless, of course, you didn't have a crane to pick up the X-wing with. Kess had already turned in the crane back to Complex Supply, and it usually took weeks to reserve its use. She had already cashed in all her friendly favors to get a hold of parts and test equipment and was rapidly running out of witty ideas to get Rogue Group back in the sky. 

Luke watched silently as Kess called Neilson over, and asked the man about the availability of another crane, or even the same crane they had just turned in last week. Neilson shook his head and mumbled the excuses too low for Luke to hear. Kess blew up at her bangs wearily.

Luke pursed his lips in thought and grinned deviously. In his thoughts, he thanked Master Yoda for a wonderful idea. 

He pushed himself from the broken chair and strolled slowly to the last desk in the row. Folding his arms at his chest, he leaned his hip against the desk, watching the crowd of now five grunts collect in bewilderment of what to do. He called out loudly at her, "You're thinking too much like an engineer."

All heads turned to him, even Kess had an expression as though she hadn't noticed his approach, but held her hands in the air for a sarcastic shrug, "I am an engineer. What a coincidence." Luke smiled but didn't move, the others grinned as well. Kess took two steps to him, "What? I'm supposed to use the Force to convince the X-wing to magically heal itself?"

She actually got a few chuckles out of that one and she herself smirked at the absurdity of the idea, but Luke shook his head at her. "Think about it." He leaned forward just slightly, "And think like a Jedi."

Kess wrinkled her face at him and looked at the crippled X-wing. Neilson, Ashten and a few others were poised with casual interest at which _abracadabra poof_ they might see today. 

Kess finally shook her head and shrugged, "I don't know. I want to say use the mind trick to have them give the crane back but I know that's not right."

Luke shook his head and stomped over the to broken boat, "No, no, no." He slapped the palm of his hand on a lower fusial engine and waved his hand as he spat out the obvious, "Pick it up."

Her eyes dramatically popped out of their sockets. "You've lost your mind. That thing is at least 25 tons of solid steel!"

"So?" Luke shrugged at her, "Size matters not."

Kess stepped backwards, waving her arms in the air, "Okay, you've lost your mind _and_ your sense of grammar."

Luke smiled wide at her and leaned his back on the fusial engine, "How much does the Force weigh?"

Kess caught her breath and sighed heavily in admittance, "Nothing."

Luke shrugged at her again, "So?" Her mouth was agape as she searched for an argument against the plan, but Luke wasn't going to let her get out of it. This was too perfect. "You pick up rocks, don't you?"

She waved a hand pessimistically at the ship, "Rocks are one thing, but this is. . . this is insane!"

The muscles in Luke's cheeks hurt from trying not to smile. In her own way of putting it, she had the same reaction as he did. He stepped over to her, drawing her stare from the X-wing, and spoke softly, "If you will, for once, put as much faith in you that I have, you will succeed."

She looked into his eyes and her expression softened. She actually smiled a little, as though she were embarrassed, and turned to the collection of grunts. "Okay!" She clapped her hands and rubbed her palms together, "I need three volunteers that really, _really_ trust me."  She almost busted out in a giggle as she said it. 

The small crowd suddenly started looking at each other and shifted their weight from one foot to the other. Kess' face was starting to turn pink with laughter at their reaction.

"I'll do it." Luke suddenly said and stepped over to the Floor Supervisor for the hand tools.

With Luke's trust, and the trust that the Jedi Master would catch the 25 tons if she dropped it, Neilson stepped forward as well, "I'm in, too."

Kess raised her brows at the Repair Manager and then, with determination, Ashten stepped up as well. The elfin woman started passing out the proper tools and dividing up the plan for a quick, six-handed job. Kess rubbed a hand over her eyes in disbelief and heard the whispers suddenly flow through the pad floor like a tidal wave. Every warm body on the floor started gathering to watch the magic show. Kess peaked at the mulling crowd of olive drab from between her fingers and her sights fell on Luke's proud smirk. "You are going to pay for this," she threatened him.

Luke turned to the X-wing. "Pay me back all you want," he said as he lowered to the ground. "Just don't drop it on me."

Neilson was half lowered to the concrete floor, but suddenly froze. He pointed a hydrospanner at Luke shyly, "You will catch it if she drops it, won't you?"

Luke squinted at the man like he was crazy. "No, I'm not going to catch it. I'll be busy fixing it."

Ashten looked up at Neilson in panic and Neilson pointed to the first grunt he saw, "Get down here. Commander, why don't you-"

Luke shook his head at Neilson. "No. She can do it by herself. I'm not going to give her a safety net."

A shudder seemed to hit everyone's shoulders at once. Kess glanced around at the imaginary wall everyone was standing behind, giving her, the X-wing, and the triplet on the pavement a giant bubble in a sea of greasy green canvas.

Three sets of shoulder hit the concrete with their heads pointing at the large broken foot from different directions. Neilson closed his eyes in silent prayer, Ashten tightened her grip on the wrench, and Luke lifted his head expectantly, "Well?" 

Kess sighed deeply and turned to the crowd, "Nobody say a word." 

Heads shook vigorously in silence. Nobody was even breathing, much less talking. Kess took one last look at Luke head still in a spherical shape and closed her eyes. She brought every emotion to complete peace and sensed out to the X-wing. Its mass glowed in her mind, with the bodies underneath it glowing even brighter. She took the time to focus her concentration on the vessel, not willing to make a mistake. 

Luke watched the under-hull past the foot and, without too much effort, could feel her get a tight grip on the steel. He could feel the Force flowing up through him as she pulled it up from the ground and created a large base under the X-wings pointed body. He watched the metal begin to shudder and grow into a wild rattling, then suddenly, the 25 tons began to slowly rise. 

The wide-eyed crowd watched Kess. Her face was completely expressionless and her hands barely hovered in front of her. Beads of sweat began seeping from her temples in mind-crushing concentration. The X-wing rose gradually for several inches, paused a long moment, and rose upward again. When it reached a steady hover at a half a meter, Luke grinned slightly and whispered, "Go."

The three shimmied under the foot until the top of one head met with another's shoulder and tools quietly clacked against the metal all at once. They worked quickly whispering back and forth things like, "Get that," and "Another turn," and so forth. Their whispers seemed to echo against the far away walls in the suspenseful silence of the crowd.

The muscles in Kess' jaw started to ripple and she forced her self to inhale slowly. The ounce of diverted concentration to do so reflected greatly in the X-wing's hovering position and it twisted slowly away. Kess realized it almost immediately and raised her chin to steady the craft again.

Neilson and Ashten somehow managed not to completely freak out. Neilson froze in absolute terror as the foot drifted out of his wrench's grasp and to the side. It had only moved a single inch when it stopped again but that didn't make him fell any better.

Luke scooted up on his back more to adjust his reach under the foot's new position and whispered casually, "At least it wasn't coming down."

Ashten shot him a look, but her hands went back to the craft in a fury.

Five seconds later, their whispers grew back to voices and Neilson smiled, pulling his hands and his head from under the foot. "Got it." Luke was smiling too and rolled out beyond the X-wing. Ashten got up and ran.

"Okay," Luke said, climbing to his feet, "Let it down."

The craft began to lower even more sluggishly than it had rose. Her face was turning red and her lips had peeled away to show her teeth about to splinter from the pressure in her jaw.

Everyone remained silent as it lowered again. One foot touched before the other did and then Kess let it go. The port side of the ship came down less than a centimeter but echoed through the pad with a rumbling thump.

Then everybody breathed.

There was a long pause as the crowd stared in shock and panted in the relief of suspense. Luke was bursting with joy at the accomplishment. He brought a strong arm and fist in the air with a loud and boisterous, "Yes!" That managed to get the whole crowd going. Some clapped in astonishment. Others began commenting in grinning disbelief.

Luke stepped over to where she just panted and stared. Her cheeks were still flushed and wisps of hair clung to her temples and neck with sweat. Her mind was still trying to relax from the intense concentration. 

Luke just smiled at her and waited until she was ready to have a conversation. His pride in her swelled when the long lashes touched her brows and smiling, exhausted eyes looked up at him. "I don't care what you say," she panted. "That thing is friggin' heavy."

Luke laughed out loud, more at the elation of her success than anything else, and allowed himself to hive her a quick hug. Kess closed her eyes at the gesture but moved away as soon as he let go, heading straight for the nearest chair.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

**2.69.11.47**

**All afternoon, I've been walking around in a strange daze, thinking the same words over and over again: That's my girl. **

**She felt more amazement about it than pride. During training, she asked if I had ever done the same thing and I told her about my X-wing drowning in the swamps of Dagobah. But I couldn't wipe the smile off my face when I told her about it. I just kept looking at her and thinking: That's my girl. That's my apprentice. And she's learning, and she's getting through this, and she's going to be my first Jedi Knight. She complains, but inside she loves it.**

**Then, just before we left the clearing, she reached over and combed my hair back behind my ears. She was complaining about my haircut and nagging at me that she couldn't stand it when my hair was in my face. I was sitting on the log and she was standing in front of me. She had dirt smudges on her shirt and she smelled like perfume, canvas, and jet fuel. All I could do was sit there obediently and stare up at her and I thought something I probably shouldn't have, but I really want to be able to say aloud.**

**That's _my_ girl.**

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

"Captain Solo?" Threepio waddled in to the tech library and pulled Han's attention reluctantly away from the holographic schematic. "There is an incoming message for you on secured channel Victor." His golden head cocked sideways. "And it's marked private."

Han pushed with his heals and rolled backwards into the terminal desk. "Thanks, Threepio." He succinctly turned his back to the droid while it was waddling back out the door. A flip of the switch and the screen glowed red and gold with the giant symbol of Tatooine. Han punched in his code and folded his fingers together on the desktop patiently.

A blue face appeared on the screen. The tiny antennas on his forehead were ears and the round suction cup-like hole was his mouth. Han thought of good old Greedo every time he spoke to the Rodian clanmate. It was a good thing Han actually saw Greedo die since he couldn't tell one Rodian from the next. "I've been waiting for you to respond for over a week," Han complained. "What took you so long?"

The Rodian's giant eyes seemed to turn downtrodden. His voice sounded like a cat meowing underwater as he spoke in his own tongue. "If you like, Solo, I can simply take this information elsewhere."

Han scratched his eyebrow in self-scolding of his own manners to someone that was doing him a favor, but refused to let himself apologize, "Don't bother, nobody else would want it." Then he burst out in optimism. "C'mon, I'm paying you for this, aren't I?"

The chalky blue face nodded, "Speaking of payment. . .."

Solo punched in his credit chip into the slot with an impatient, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Upon immediate receipt of the Alliance credits, the Rodian slid a brown datacard in his own slot and sent back the information, "You've always been a good customer, Solo, but sometimes I wonder about your strange inquiries."

Eagerly, the Captain slid a clean black card and downloaded the information. "Yeah, well I'm into some pretty weird stuff these days."

The Rodian chuckled in a high-pitched shriek of agreement that made Han wince. "Give Chewie a fair greeting." The Rodian quieted, "And may the Force be with you."

Han was already pulling out the precious card, "Yeah, you too." Anxious to see the goodies, he turned off the terminal and grabbed a datapad in the same series of movements. Then he sat back to get comfortable and switched the datapad on to glow dimly at his face.

He scanned the name and basic stats he'd already learned in the security check, and then, reading further. . .

Han frowned.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

Rain dribbled down from the thick canopy and sizzled when it hit the pure white saber blades. He had worn her down too quickly. The exhaustion of work compiled with the frustration of the training and Kess' run had slowed to a jog. She panted for breath as she hopped over a fallen log and pushed herself off the ground to keep running. 

Luke stepped onto the log and threw his saber down into the brush. He jumped at her, catching her in the side, and they skidded into the dirt and grass in a heap. Moving quickly, Luke grabbed her wrists and held them against the ground above her head. Kess was so tired that she just let him. Straddling her waist, he hovered over her face and whispered heavily, "You're dead."

Kess closed her eyes in a silent curse but didn't try to struggle away. She breathed heavily through her nose and fought her mind to ignore the position he had her in.

Luke panted at her neck and saw a drop of sweat trailing slowly across the flesh over her collarbone and dribble seductively down the side of her neck. Then he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and pushed himself off of her.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

Neilson had grown bigger balls over the months. The grounding of Rogue Group drug on long beyond the conservative four week estimate and even though over half the X-wings were sitting perfect and clean in the their parking spots, it was Neilson's decision that the grounding would not be lifted until all thirty craft passed the new standards. The few that still didn't pass the new clearing standards were because of a delay in parts shipments. So, in a sense, the work was done for the repair group.

Kess could feel the morale tiring rapidly, and though she had planned to do it all along, she decided to have the party early and hopefully refresh the crew on account that they were practically done anyway. The Mash Pit cooked up twenty-five patzias and pulled out four kegs of ale. Kess treated the entirety of Rogue Group to a private party. Yes, even the pilots.

Wedge was laughing out loud and Teik shimmered his blue scales with a smile. Ashten and Neilson sat at another table, wolfing down the patzia. The little clique's of repair and flight crew gathered at different tables, telling stories, drinking, and playing sabaac. Young Seidrik was in the corner actually dancing. Weary sighs of frustration drifted back into lighthearted laughter. Kess stood quietly at the bar, preferring to be ignored, and watched the gang eat, drink, and be merry. 

Luke was being equally ignored by the collection of uniforms. He stepped up to Kess and leaned on the bar. "I know this little party wasn't in the budget," he warned with a smile.

Kess inhaled as she looked over the crowd. "You kidding? We're busted out the budget on parts alone. There ain't a dime left to pay for a party. Besides," she smiled at him with a wrinkled nose. "Even if we did have the money, you wouldn't approve the requisition if I blackmailed you for it."

Luke picked up a glass of soda and sipped it with a smile. "And what could you possibly blackmail me with?" Jedi Knights were not blackmail-able people.

Kess raised a brow. "Where should I start?"

Luke sat down on the stool as he glanced at her, then his eyes widened a little as he looked away. "Forget I asked."

Leaning her elbows backward on the bar, she chuckled at him.

After a long minute of watching everyone else party, Luke glanced at Kess warily, "You were going to pay for it yourself, weren't you?"

Kess bit her lips together guiltily. "Don't tell anybody, okay?" She didn't want the Repair gang to take it the wrong way.

Luke gave her a perturbed look and turned around to the tender.

Kess half turned and started to speak.

"Shut up," he said, and promptly paid the bill.


	9. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

He led the quiet hike up Toban Ridge and deep into the jungle beyond, but they weren't going to the pool or anywhere else she'd recognized. In a non-descript clearing, he turned to her and spoke firmly, "Tag."

Kess eyed him carefully, "But we didn't bring the dud sabers."

That's when his hilt ignited in a green-white blade and he started counting. Kess was already backing up. "B-but, Luke, uh-"

"Four. . . five. . . six. . ."

Kess turned on her heals and ran. She pounded through the brush in absolute terror and some how managed to turn on her own saber somewhere along the way.

When Luke reached ten, he paused, tightened his grip on the hilt, and ran after her. He hated having to do this, but she had to learn to stay on her toes, no matter how he felt about her. He guided her flee in a particular direction, keeping up the chase and still staying far enough behind to prevent her from figuring it out too soon.

Kess' thoughts scrambled for clues on what this was about as her feet tore through the jungle. She could hear his foot falls behind, rapidly closing in on her and suddenly she crashed between the bushes to see nothing but _valley_.

Her feet skidded on the gravely dirt all the way over the edge and the amber blade of her lightsaber hummed loudly through the air until it sliced through the jungle canopy two hundred meters below. With terrified eyes, she scratched at the mountain until she caught a small protruding stone six feet below the ledge. She clutched the rock in absolute fear and the panic began to swell. Her feet scrambled on the side of the mountain only to have the dirt and rocks disintegrate under her efforts.

Luke stood at the ledge confidently and growled down at her, "Get up!"

"Help me!" She pleaded.

His brows raised, "No."

Kess cussed, still clawing at the crumbling cliff and realized that he'd done it on purpose. Gritting her teeth, she gave up the fight for a second and closed her eyes. Concentrating her senses on the mountain, she used the Force to glue the gravel together and then was able to use her feet to push her body up over the rock.

Luke saw her fingernails dig into the dirt ledge and stepped back to let her climb up by herself. By the time she pulled her body up completely and rolled tiredly onto her back, her fear and frustration had sobered. She closed her eyes and panted.

He asked quietly, "What did you do wrong?"

Kess whispered into the air, "I wasn't controlling my fear." She rubbed her eyes with the balls of her hands. "I was so scared of your real lightsaber that I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings."

Luke stepped over and offered her a hand. "Very good."

She took his hand and pulled her self up to stand.

"Don't do that anymore," he said, hovering his hand out over the cliff as he called through the Force to her lightsaber. "You scared the wits out of me."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess straightened her tunic and brushed off a piece of white lint from her black shrouded shoulder. Then she rang the doorbell of the lush, top floor apartment.

Threepio answered it, "Good evening, Lieutenant. Please come in."

Kess stepped into the hallway, already hearing voices of loud tales and laughter in the back, and scanned over the curved, white-lacquer, Alderaani-style furniture.

"If I may say so, the uniform turned out rather nicely."

Kess blinked at Threepio and looked down at her new outfit. The boots were short, the pants were slightly formfitting, and the shirt was a straight button up. Other than that, it was the same Jedi uniform Luke often wore. She had decided not to change the style too much knowing that he would just have her start from scratch if he noticed. She still looked somewhat like a man, but shrugged it off since her usual olive drab coveralls weren't that feminine either. Threepio led her down the hall to the living room and she watched the rambunctious crowd fall silent and go wide eyed for a moment. 

Captain Solo was the first one to speak, "Woah! Looks like you've finally found yourself a sidekick, kid."

Luke stood to the side of the room with his wine glass in his hand and own black Jedi uniform fitting snugly over his lean build. His free hand went on his hip as he looked her up and down. He finally shrugged in approval, "Looks good."

Chewie growled something from the couch.

Han chortled, "He said you look like a male."

Leia stepped up to her in a rust-colored jumpsuit and flowing ivory robe and straightened the shoulder of Kess' tunic. "Ignore them," she whispered and stepped back, looking her up and down. With a wink, the Princess turned to the dining room, "We'll make a Jedi out of you yet."

The bodies started moving to the table as Han raised his voice back to the tales of old times. "So anyway, about that _brilliant_ idea to dive head first into the trash compactor. . . ."

Leia shot her husband a look, Chewie hooted out in laughter and Luke just grinned. 

Kess sat gingerly in the chair across the table from Chewie. She blinked when Luke sat next to her, but quickly realized that there was no other place at the fine dining table for him to sit. Captain Solo and his furry partner-in-crime laughed about the adventures on the first Death Star while Threepio served them plates of a saucy Corellian meal. Captain Solo kept calling Luke a 'kid' just to make him wince like a baby brother being teased. Leia watched her husband's rambunctious complaining with loving brown eyes. Artoo rolled around the table with a platter of filled wine glasses on his head and twittering in complaint about Threepio's relentless whining during the event years before. 

Kess was able to get the trash compactor story out of them and quietly waited for any other tidbits of history she could pick out of the conversation. She listened attentively and glanced over at Luke's easy smile. This was his family. It was his source of camaraderie that Kess clung to the girlies for.

When dinner was over, Leia took Kess by the hand to the middle of the living room floor and began to instruct her on the details of shaking hands to political leaders in the Council. The protocol lesson was the original excuse to invite the Jedi Apprentice over for dinner in her uniform. None of them would admit that they were just anxious to see her dressed like a Jedi Knight for the first time.

Luke sipped on his wine from the stool at the wet bar and casually watched the women practice. It was the same set of lessons that Leia had taught Luke, Han and Chewie years ago. He smiled quietly, thinking that learning the details of protocol had turned into a sort of initiation into the clique.

Han stood behind the bar and mixed up a green snow ball. He glanced at the women out of earshot and muttered quietly, "I wanted to talk to you about something, Luke."

Luke turned his head to him. He was so used to being called a kid by the pirate that, even though the nickname bugged him, it drew more attention when Han addressed him by his real name.

Han spoke quietly as to not be overheard, and glanced again out to the living room floor before meeting Luke's gaze. "I did some checking up on your girlfriend."

Luke's patience twanged twice. He decided not to jump on Han's case about referring to her as his girlfriend for the sake of ripping his head off for trying to find something about Kess that Luke wouldn't like. His tone was clearly aggravated, "Why?"

Han brought the grass green, soupy drink to his lips, "I wanted to see if I could find a connection between her and that Mugwot Pon. See if that's what he's after."

Luke narrowed his eyes at Han, "That is a weak excuse. If Mugwot Pot is after Kess, then he's most certainly a bounty hunter hired by the Empire." He shook his head, "You wouldn't find a connection and you know it."

Han grinned innocently, "Well then, that must be why I didn't find any." Luke's glare didn't faze him. He put his hand on one hip and swallowed down more of the slushy alcohol. "I found something much more interesting." 

Luke watched his wine as he swirled it in the goblet, "I don't want to know."

Han watched the women more than two meters away, chuckling as they performed the different bows to each other. The blonde seemed innocent enough, but there was more to her history than appeared in the security check. "Are you sure about that, kid? I mean there's a lot of checkered past behind those big brown eyes of hers."

Chewie strolled over for a refill and Han took his glass. As he poured into it, Han slid a datapad on the bar counter in the same series of movements. "Trust me," Han mumbled. "Read it."

Reluctantly, Luke picked up the pad and turned it on. Chewie growled a question at Han and the smuggler whispered back, "It's and unofficial background check on our favorite Lieutenant."

Luke started shaking his head and reading aloud quietly, "Theft. . . Breaking an entering. . . illegal possession of spice products. . . theft again. . .." He looked up, "This was all in her security check, Han."

Han motioned with his finger, "Page down."

Luke sighed impatiently as he punched the button. His eyes flicked across the page and then suddenly, his eyes went wide with a fearful breath.

"See?" Han said.

Luke tore his eyes off the datapad and a pained expression looked out to the woman that he had trusted so deeply until now.

Kess detected the change in his mood and turned around with concern. When she saw his expression, her smile vanished, "What's the matter?"

Luke really didn't want to confront her about it at a family dinner, but deep in his heart he wanted and explanation.

And he wanted it _now_.

The room went silent as Luke broke the stare and raised the datapad to his sights. With a low, depressed voice, he read aloud the entry that he didn't want to believe. "Standard date: 2.61.02.12 Accused: Kess Lendra, 76 Tusken Street, Mos Eisley Tatooine. Location of arrest: Mos Eisley, corner of Market Square and Carrak Road. Crime: " he dropped the datapad to his lap and looked at her with disheartened shock, "_Prostitution_?"

Kess stepped forward with her lips drawn into a thin line and her arms folded proudly at her chest. "If you wanted to know such nitty gritty about me, why didn't you just ask?" Here she was, mistaking a family dinner as an open-armed gesture of friendship with these people, and they drag a skeleton out of her closet. Kess was already insulted.

Han leaned his elbows on the bar counter, "Don't yell at him. I looked it up. I wasn't satisfied with the security check."

Kess kept her voice tensely low, "Then why didn't _you_ just ask, Captain?"

Leia scolded her husband from behind Kess, "Han, that was uncalled for."

Han said nothing.

Kess found Luke's stare again. His iris's had faded to a blue-white and his eyebrows had slanted with painful alarm. Kess looked away defensively. "Street walking wasn't the crime I committed, it was the crime I was busted for."

Luke cocked his head, "And what crime did you really commit?"

Kess felt the eyes on her from all around the room and didn't appreciate being put on the witness stand like this. Turning to him boldly, she raised her chin and threw his own excuse back at him, "It's kind of a long story."

Luke hissed back through clenched teeth, "We have plenty of time to hear it."

Kess took one step to him aggressively, "Oh really? Then maybe you could explain how you knew Obi Wan Kenobi. Or better yet, I'd love to hear the Darth Vader story. . . Do remember, _Master_, I asked you first!"

Kess felt the tension in the room thicken instantly. Luke dropped his eyes and his chest heaved for air. Chewie muttered good night to Solo and moved to leave very quickly. When the door closed behind the Wookiee, Solo stepped out slowly from behind the bar and went to his wife, but Leia stepped away from him uncomfortably.

Kess blew up at the silence, "What?! What's the big secret? If you don't trust me then how do you expect me to trust you?" She watched Luke press his lips together and set his wine glass on the bar. She turned away from him, bursting with frustration at his continuing silence, and propped her elbows heavily on the bar counter. 

Her fingers dug deep into her bangs and she sighed in defeat, "I was a scout for a credit exchange okay? I had to clear the area so a friend could meet his rendezvous and trade Alliance credits for Imperial credits. Since possession of Rebel contraband was a felony at the time, I chose the misdemeanor. All right?"

Luke watched the anger welling up in the corner of her eye and sighed deeply. He felt relieved at the explanation, but now wasn't sure how much to believe. The last thing he wanted to do was sense out her emotions. He already knew what else he'd find. . . and he didn't want to see. He glanced over at Leia who stood alone near the wall, chewing on a thumbnail. His sister met his eyes boldly, but her expression died into a deep depression. Reluctantly, she nodded. 

Luke looked down at the datapad and threw it on the table, then he looked at Kess who was finishing Chewie's potent drink in large swallows. Luke sucked in a long breath when she slapped the empty glass on the bar counter and she started to turn away. "Minister, its been a lovely dinner." She muttered, "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Darth Vader. . . ." Luke whispered, watching Kess turn to him, "went by a different name before he turned to the dark side. . . ." Luke forced himself to look her in the eye when he said it. He propped his elbows on the back of his stool and the bar counter and folded his sweating hands in front of him. "His real name was Anakin Skywalker," he said quietly. "He was my father."

Kess' expression of complete shock that he was actually telling her didn't change after he was finished. She stared at him as though she hadn't heard him right, or expected his to suddenly say April Fool's. But Luke said nothing more. 

She blinked and stepped clumsily backward until she bumped into the living room chair. Her wide eyes went to Leia, Luke's _sister_. The Minister of State was staring at the carpet uncomfortably, her arms folded tightly in front of the jumpsuit and her husband was stepping gently to her again to try to comfort her.

Kess stumbled backwards past the chair and looked again to Luke.

"You can imagine why we're not ready to make that public knowledge yet." Luke said quietly. "And I hope you can understand why I was reluctant to tell you."

A tear splashed on Kesselia's cheek. She spun around and placed her palm on her forehead. "I think I-" her voice cracked and she swallowed dryly. "I'm gonna go home now," she whispered. Before a commanding word could stop her, she dashed to the door and left.

Luke closed his eyes and rubbed his brows with thumb and forefinger. His heavy sigh quivered in his chest. "I think I hate him more for this than anything else."

Leia suddenly turned to him, "Go after her."

Luke barely shook his head, "She needs to cool off."

Han stepped over and put a hand on Luke's shoulder, "What she _needs_ is to talk to you."

Luke glared up at him and hissed accusingly, "I thought you didn't like her?"

Han squared his shoulders. "I don't trust her. I didn't know before, but that," he motioned to the couch she had bumped into, "that wasn't acting. And that wasn't about her Jedi Master either." He raised his brows. "She's in love with you."

Leia said it again, more aggressively this time, "Go after her!"

Luke met his sister's serious stare and looked away again. His motions quickened, "Send Artoo home in about an hour, okay." He rubbed the sweat from his palms to the sleeves of his pants and stood nervously. He took five steps to the door and paused.

Han and Leia watched him turned around and raise his hands helplessly, "What do I say?"

Leia went to him gently, "Tell her the truth."

He winced painfully, waving his arm at the bar, "I just did."

Han crossed his arms, "Tell her the truth about _you_, stupid. Not him."

Luke looked at him pathetically. He started and then his eyes saddened again, "I _can't_."

Leia felt her brother's frustration oozing out from his practiced control. She touched his arm and insisted again, "Luke, go talk to her."

Luke roughly combed his fingers in his tousled hair and moved swiftly out the door. He paused in the hallway to wring his hands and then quickly trotted to the elevator. For a moment, he thought to fetch his speeder but knew that he'd never talk her into getting in. The chilly midnight breeze brushed his cheeks when he came out of the building. She was nowhere in sight but he could easily sense her around the corner and down the street.

The thought of losing her crossed his mind and he skipped into a full run. His chest pounded in more painful desperation than he'd ever felt in his life. The wind felt like ice on his ears and he rounded the corner to face the cold wind. He saw her, blocks away and walking swiftly further. Her arms were pulled in tight at her chest only half because of the cold. She jaywalked across the street to the footpath into a small patch of jungle. 

Luke ran faster, "Kess!"

She didn't turn to him, but her feet sped up. Her arms dropped and she moved to run onto the wide footpath towards North Base.

Luke gritted his teeth. With all his strength in the Force, all his medals and political power, his feet just wouldn't move fast enough. His legs were longer, but hers were quicker and he gained on her too slowly for his own patience. When he'd run close enough for her to hear his boots pounding into the moistened grass, she rocketed into a faster run, crying in desperation to get away from him. . .  to get away from Vader's son.

Luke pleaded in a commanding yell, "Kesselia! Stop!"

The trees loomed over her when she finally stumbled to a stop. The streetlights twinkled from beyond the jungle patch and sent back black shadows over the path. Luke's speed didn't falter until he came within twenty feet of her, but just as he was beginning to slow, an amber light ignited in the shadows and the meter long blade pointed straight at him.

Luke skidded to a halt, panting through parted lips. He saw her tearstained cheeks illuminated evilly by her lightsaber's glow. He took one step closer, craving to ease her pain and therefore his own guilt. But the blade straightened, pointing directly at his chest. "Get away from me," she whispered roughly.

Luke still didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do, what to think, or how to feel. The midnight blue of her pain flooded his senses. "No," was as he could say.

"I don't want to hear your explanations or your apologies," she said furiously. "You lied to me, you hurt me, and you betrayed me." She sucked in a quivering breath. "You let me trust you knowing you were hiding the truth from me. . . . I'm not even sure I want to hear your terribly long story anymore!"

He stepped forward again until the blade nearly touched the fabric of his black tunic. "Kesselia, don't fight me about this," he whispered. "Please. . . put the lightsaber away."

She let out a challenging yell, "YOU DRAW YOURS!"

Luke swallowed hard. He wasn't about to draw his saber on her, but he wondered what else he could do if she finally let loose her anger and swung at him. "You're upset and you have every right," he insisted, "but this hate you feel for Vader will turn you to the dark side if you don't pacify it."

She stepped backward, waving the blade in sarcasm, "Oh, just what I need right now. More twisted wisdom from Master Perfect!" She took another step back, "Or should I be calling you Little Vader?"

Luke bit his tongue and cursed himself for his approach. Pain filled his heart at the realization of the monster her created. Poetic justice, he thought. They already told him what to do, 'Tell her how you feel.' But he didn't know how to say it. He didn't know if it would do any good. He didn't know if it would be stepping over that line that Ben appeared in the clearing to scold him for. But what he did know, he inhaled deeply to draw up the courage to say it out loud, "I don't want to lose you."

Kess almost laughed at him. "You know, you've got a real problem with this stupid Jedi peace of yours! Your attitude changes from a military hero to a bible-thumping monk as fast as a power switch. I'm beginning to think you're schizophrenic." Another tear dribbled down her cheek, "And now you don't want to lose me? You just keep me around so you have someone to beat up on! I'm just your stupid little sidekick, Luke!" She waved her free hand in the air. "No matter what you say, I'm supposed to obey. No matter what you do, I'm supposed to find my peace and understand!"

Luke pleaded desperately, "No, Kesselia."

"Well I'm not doing this anymore!" She screamed, "I'm exhausted! I've had it! No more blasted politics and no more lies." She switched off her saber and tightened her grip on the hilt. "No more 'it's a long story' and no more 'I'll tell you when you're ready'. . ." Her chest heaved as the crying flowed uncontrollably and her deathly quiet whisper sliced the heart completely out of his ribs. "And no more training. . .." she threw the hilt violently at him. "I quit." 

Her lightsaber thumped on the ground behind him and the silence of his shock turned up the volume of the chirping crickets and twittering night birds. Luke felt like the wind was completely knocked out of him. He couldn't breath. He couldn't speak.

Kess decided that she had given him plenty of time to try to argue her out of it and pivoted on her heals. "That's what I thought," she hissed, and turned her back to him to storm away. All her peace and serenity crumbled completely away. Her feet sped up as though the distance from him would ease the pain, but even at a full run again, she couldn't control the crying. She shot out of the jungle path and in seconds she was out of sight.

Luke tried to run after her but only made it a few steps before his strength weakened. His legs buckled beneath him and he fell to his knees in the soggy ground. The wetness of the recent rain instantly soaked through his pants to his shins. The silence boomed in his ears. Frogs croaked loudly at him and the shadows over the footpath darkened even the corners of his soul. He threw back his head and shouted out his pain into the stars and hoped his father would hear him. "DAMN YOU!"

His voice echoed against the stone buildings and drilled a hole directly into her chest as she ran as fast as she could to the North Base. The tears from the death her mother flowed as thought he pain were fresh. Her father had warned her. As much as she hated to admit it, her father was right. 

Never trust a Jedi. 

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

The night birds were still chirping out the window and the eyes that looked out to the fluttering wings had reddened. But Luke smiled wearily when he focused on the light of dawn beyond the trees. The longest night of his life was finally over. His shoulders seemed to droop permanently and the lines of age had deepened with fatigue. His thumb absent-mindedly brushed up and down the durasteel casing of the petite lightsaber laying on the bed beside him, but he wouldn't look at it. The terry cloth robe was the only thing that covered his skin and occasionally would lose a sliver of lint to dot the sheets of his bed. He reviewed the black bed, the white robe, and the lacquer furniture. . . the place was decorated like the Death Star.

He closed his eyes with disheartening wince.

When he opened his eyes again, the datapad was still in his hand, with all those colossal mistakes staring back at him. The thing had grown far beyond the point of simply recording little mishaps. His first entry was short and sweet. . .

**Don't burst into her bedroom to wake her up without checking to make sure she is wearing pajamas first. And _don't_ offer to dress her yourself.**

He had smiled weakly at the memories as he flipped down dozens of pages. Quick notes of his oversight mutated slowly into emotional venting. He tried to be very careful about what he wrote since he promised to show her the notes when her training was over, but, with 20/20 hindsight, he could clearly read between the lines of his own words. His last entry was several pages long of lonely babbling, and ended with. . .

**The boy was crying frantically and could have been no more than three standard years. And he had these big brown eyes that would just make you melt. Kess shoved the basket into my hand and dropped to her knees in front of him. She had calmed him down in a matter of seconds and walked on her knees with him to the sales counter talking to him about how neat the store looked when she was shorter. By the time his mother was found, the child was giggling at her. **

**I can just see Kess wading through a room full of blonde toddlers and yanking little plastic lightsabers out of the air to round them up for dinner. I don't know what it is about women that make them natural experts with children. I hope that, if I ever get married, my wife will be as good with kids as Kesselia is.**

Luke out blew a sigh and dropped his head back on the pillow. He slammed his eyes shut, cursing at himself. _I didn't really type that and not see through it. Even I'm not that stupid. _

Somewhere over the last few months, his attentions had gone from galactic politics and Jedi Training to marriage and children. His nightly meditation had drifted into an endless series of memories and daydreams. And the last Jedi Knight in the galaxy had fallen to his knees in the mud because of the rejection from a woman.

He glared pathetically up at the ceiling and said aloud, "I am that stupid." 

Luke swallowed hard and lifted his head again. Kesselia had quit. She hated him now and for good reason. But even with all the self admission in the world about how he felt, he still couldn't tell her because of the slim chance that she'd come back to complete her training. For all intents and purposes, he still had to be her Jedi Master. Looking at it from that point of view, he knew what he had to do, even though the thought of it felt like he was slicing off the rest of his arm and handing it to her. He had to do what Yoda would have done, what Ben would have done. . . .

Luke sucked in a quivering breath and touched on his peace before he let the air back out. His jaw tensed into solid stone as he toyed with how he was going to approach this, but he wasn't willing to cut off his apprentice without giving her some kind of solid proof that there was more to the months of grueling training. . . than training. 

Luke bit his lips together as though he were afraid to say it out loud. He had to admit it, even if it was only on a datacard. He brought his fingers to the rounded keys and hunt n' pecked in a single sentence. 

**The worst thing you could do while training a female Jedi Apprentice is fall in love with her.**

He stared at the words for a long time and then switched off the datapad in a painful hurry. Without looking, he tossed it to his bedside table and heard it knock slightly against his lightsaber. He looked up to the weapon and glared.

The thing felt like a curse.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess' bloodshot eyes opened into the darkness right on schedule, but she lay there in a huddled ball under the woolen blanket with no intentions of getting out of bed. She stared blankly out the window where dawn glowed light blue and orange into the night sky. A fresh tear dribbled down her temple and dissolved into the already damp pillow.

She had stormed into the barracks calling him every name in the book. The girlies were struck with concern and tried to get her to talk about it, and Kess really wanted to, but something inside wouldn't let her reveal a secret that wasn't hers to tell. Instead, she locked herself in her room and cried herself to sleep. 

Last night she had sworn to herself to get her own life back. She would sleep in every morning until she absolutely had to get up and race to work so she could get to muster on time. She would take the matter all the way to the Chief of State if she had to, just to get transferred back to Gold Group. She would sign back up for Lokey's fencing class and, next weekend, she would ask Wedge out on a date.

"Good mo-"

Kess made a quick gesture in the direction of the alarm and the sickening sweet voice went silent. Then she looked at her index finger in the darkness, scolding it for its sub-conscious behavior. 

She blew up at her bangs and finally admitted that last nights hopes of switching back to her old life was just a bunch of bantha fodder. Luke would be banging down her door in short order to get her to find her peace and meditate. She would most certainly be called into Minister Organa Solo, Daughter-of-Vader's office to get yelled at. And she didn't even want to think about what the info channel was going to do with this. As soon as word got out that Big-Man Skywalker's first apprentice had walked out on him, the press would smear it across the vid as bad as they did the Hutt Trials.

Now, facing her father about her training was completely out of the question. Her only hope was to shed all the Jedi-ness from her personality and go home pretending nothing had happened. She could change her hair and say that the lady he saw on the vid was some other chick that just looked like her. Kess rolled on her back and groaned at the pathetic idea. There was no way around it: her father was going to rip her head off and hand it to her.

Kess swallowed hard. She knew she had to face Luke about this. She would have to explain to him valid reasons for canceling her training without throwing a temper tantrum in the process. If he wasn't going to be willing to let her quit, the only way she would get out of the constant brow beating would be to resign her commission and leave the Alliance, and all it's rebellious glory, behind her.


	10. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Kess hid in the droid locker before muster to make herself scarce and walked into the giant room at the last minute after Luke had already stepped up to the black podium. She wouldn't let herself look at him and tried her damnedest to ignore his monotone speech. She pulled her arms into her chest, fighting the disquieting chill in her shoulders about Luke's secret blood relation, and stared unblinking at the dingy gray tile on stage directly in front of her. 

In her mind, she played with the words on how to approach him about it, but then decided that he would probably pull her aside before she actually narrowed in on a strategy. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, leaning tiredly on the badly scratched podium, and instead of the khaki uniform, she imagined a flowing black cape and polished helmet.

His voice didn't break out of the monotony to say, "That is all," and leaned his elbows deep onto the podium to watch the Rogue crowd start filtering out the back doors. Kess shot out of her chair in the front row and immediately and turned her back to him-

"Kess," he ordered. "Sit down."

Kess stopped in her tracks and sighed to retain her patience and temper. Her servicemates ignored her as the stepped around her in the aisle. She already wanted to rip him to shreds and the conversation hadn't even started. 

"Please," he said quietly. It almost came out like a question.

Slowly, she turned on her heals and sat back down in the metal chair. She crossed her arms again, staring coldly at the bare wall beyond the stage, and waited apprehensively for the echoing voices to fade completely onto the pad. Luke watched the bodies sift out of the back door and asked the last person to shut it behind him. Wedge had paused at the side door with a question in his eye. Luke simply shooed him away with a small gesture. 

Once the big room was empty, he sighed deeply and wiped a hand over his face. He gave himself a quick moment to figure out how to begin and looked at her. He read her body language clearly, pressed his mouth, and jumped off the stage toward her.

Her hardened eyes darted to the ground when he stepped into her line of sight and her throat sounded dry, "I needed to talk to you anyway, Commander-"

"Don't call me Commander," He cut her off and pulled the blue and silver rank insignia off his collar.

Kess' glare bore into him, "Well, I'm sure as hell not gonna call you 'Master'."

Luke met her stare just as hard, pulling off his Jedi pin, "I don't want you to call me that either." He watched her expression as he yanked off his lightsaber and then slid her lightsaber out of the inside pocket of his khaki jacket. He turned back to the stage and unloaded every symbol of every rank from his person. 

Kess face went irate as soon as she realized what he was doing. "I hope you don't think that kissing me and getting my grandfather to show up again is going to fix this."

He actually smiled a little at the idea. "No." He turned and reached for her collar.

She gritted her teeth and slapped his hand away.

Luke's arm froze in the air and he let out an impatient sigh. "Fine," he snapped. "You take it off." 

Kess drilled her eyes into him as she ripped it off her collar, threw it violently across the room and folded her arms at her chest with a childish huff. Luke glanced to the far wall it clattered against and looked back at her with disappointment at the immature action. But Luke decided to leave it alone and walked back to the short stage. "You are correct though, I _am_ taking this off the record." He sat down directly in front of her and looked her in the eye. "I realized that one of my stupidest mistakes was trying to pretend that our three different relationships were going to stay separated."

Her chin rocked back and forth, "Well, I guess you don't have to worry about that anymore."

Luke set his hands beside his knees and locked his elbows. He needed to find out what, if anything, had changed in her attitude since last night. "Why not?"

She spoke firmly, "You are not my Jedi Master, and by the end of this conversation, you won't be my Commander, either."

He looked at her from under furrowed brows. He wasn't expecting this. "You want out of Rogue Group, too?"

"More than you can possibly imagine," she said obnoxiously. "And I'm kind of stuck because you've got the high command wrapped around your little finger. I'd have to take the matter all the way up to Mon Mothma before I could reach an unbiased party, and I'm not sure that even _she_ is unbiased about this." She watched his eyes narrow at the floor. "So, unfortunately I've only got two choices. And if I can't _magically_ convince you to let me back into Gold Group," her words iced over, "then you can keep those fuckin' dots." She shot a thumb out to the direction of her rank insignia.

Luke sighed through his nose and raised his chin. He didn't want to let her go back to Gold Group. He liked having her around. Not just because he liked seeing her all day, but because his ships were in better condition than they had been in years. But it was the Commander in him that would give her almost anything she wanted to keep the Alliance from losing that talent from its military forces. "Don't resign your commission on my account, Kesselia. I'll let you go back to Gold Group as soon as the overhaul is over." He watched her eyes dart to him in shock. "Is that fair?"

Kess gritted her teeth again, but she nodded. That was way too easy. She was convinced he had something up his sleeve.

Luke wouldn't let the small victory show in his face. He had planned not to give her anything to fight about in hopes of diffusing her anger enough to actually have a productive conversation. So far, so good. 

"Well," he broke the silence with a loud clap and rubbed his palms together. "We've gotten that taken care of. So, I guess you're right, I'm not your Commander and I'm not your Master." His tone dropped. "Now what are you going to do?"

"Go about my merry way," she set her jaw with borrowed pride. "See if I can put my life back together-"

Luke shot out aggressively, "You're a half-trained Jedi Knight, Kess. You can't just drop that like a hot rock!"

"Well, my options are a bit limited!" she yelled. "I can already see my father's reaction if I tell him I'm in training to become Lady Vader, Mistress of the Sith!"

Luke's forehead wrinkled at her. His tongue played with his back molar as he closed his eyes and grinned painfully. _That would be 'Misses Vader' if you were to take the name._ But that wasn't the issue. He stared at her evenly, "Lord Vader was responsible for millions of deaths besides your mother, Kesselia. I know how feel."

Her eyes shot up to him, "Oh, you _do_, huh?"

He shrugged at her, sitting up straight. "How do you think _I_ felt when _I_ found out?"

The hate in her brown eyes dwindled slightly. She hadn't thought about that.

"That's what the dark side can do to a person," he explained softly. "Anakin Skywalker was a good man. I don't even know what turned him." He paused to inhale, calming his impatience, "You wanted to know why he saved my life on the second Death Star, well the Emperor was going to kill me if I didn't turn and _Anakin_ didn't want to see his son die, all right? I know not many people believe me, and I don't expect you to believe me either, but he _did_ turn back to the Light Side before he died."

Her mouth opened in angry cynicism, "I can't believe you're actually defending the guy!"

Luke yelled at her, "BLAMING HIM IS NOT GOING TO BRING YOUR MOTHER BACK!" He paused for a moment, surprised at his own boiling temper, but continued to yell at her with a waving arm. "All it's going to do is fill you with hate and turn you to the dark side, too!"

"IF I'M NOT A JEDI, I CAN'T BE ON EITHER SIDE!" Kess shot out of her chair and balled her fists, screaming at him. "So, I can _hate_ him all I want! And I can _hate_ you!" Her screaming echoed in the vast emptiness of the room. "I can laugh when I want to and I can cry when I want to! Use _mere mortals _are allowed to feel their emotions! I miss that, damnit! I want to be able to throw temper tantrums when I'm pissed and act on absolute impulse when I'm happy!"

She leaned toward his face and lowered her tone to an insinuating hiss, "Oh, but Jedi Knights can't do that, can they? Jedi Knights have to make sure that nothing bothers them and nothing feels good and nothing _hurts_."

Luke saw the tears welling up in her eyes and let out a tense whisper, "Kesselia, you have no idea how much this hurts."

She tightened her jaw and her eyes saddened even more. After all this, and _now_ he decides to start acting human? She wasn't going to let his words soften her this time. She stepped away and huffed in frustration, convincing herself that she had every right to be mad.

He continued quietly, "Because I know that you didn't quit because of Vader. You quit because I didn't tell you about it sooner."

She jerked her chin at him with an attitude, "Did the Force tell you that, or did you figure that one out on your own?"

He leaned toward her and raised his voice again, "If you knew that he was my father then you wouldn't have trained with me at all!"

Kess growled back at him, "And for good reason!" 

Luke shot up from the stage and stomped to her, growling out his words with tight teeth. "What he did was NOT my fault!" He paused when he realized that the hostility was flooding over his peace, but continued anyway. "It's _not_ my fault that he's my father! And it's _not_ my fault that your father taught you to hate him so much! That hate is eating you inside out! If you don't control it you will turn and then you'll be just like him!"

She yelled back at him, waving her arms at her sides, "Yeah, so what?! That's none of your business! It's _my_ life! It's _my_ hate! I'm not going to stick around so you can tear me to pieces! So you can order me around all day and beat the snot out of me all night! S-so you can lie to me and let me in on these little secrets of yours one by one!" Her chin began to wrinkle, "You go find some other Force sensitive slut who'll put up with it, 'cause it sure as _hell_ won't be me!"

Luke caught his breath and watched her angrily turn away. He took a single step backward and lowered his chin. _Mistress? Slut?_ Those weren't just Freudian slips; she wanted the subject to come up. She had wanted that for a while and he coldly shut her up every time. He thought she understood. He thought she knew and just needed verification. 

His tone darkened with insinuation, "This isn't about Vader at all, is it?"

Kess cussed under her breath and turned her back to him, pulling her arms to her chest and glaring painfully at the floor.

"This is about you and me."

"There is no you and me," she snapped. "You worked very hard to make sure of that. You even sicked Leia on me to make sure I got the picture-"

"Apparently you got the wrong picture, Kess." He interrupted and then gulped down the soreness in his throat. "D'you really think that I've been doing all this just so I can have a Jedi sidekick?"

"No," she sniffed, "Not consciously, anyway."

He stepped closer to her, raising his voice in painful disbelief. "Do you think that I'm really on the dark side, and just I haven't told you yet?"

Kess whispered again, "No."

He faced her down with his hands on his hips, standing right in front of her and trying to get her to look at him, "Do you think that I've been doing this just to find some concubine to breed apprentices for me?"

Kess' eyes darted to him. 

He shrugged pitifully, "Well, you're the one that said 'mistress'."

She closed her eyes again and wrinkled her nose, sighing heavily, but didn't step away from him. The searing hate she had worked so hard to brand her heart with was already withering away. Her knot of anger was about to unravel and she fought to maintain it.

He shook his head without pulling his eyes from her, and his voice dropped to almost a whisper, "I don't want a mistress or a concubine-" Luke bit his own words out of the air and paused see if she'd look up at him but she didn't. His eyes died and he stuffed his fists in his front pockets. "Look, you've got every right to be upset with me… about you and me." he assured. "It's been hard trying to pretend that I don't- I mean. . . There's a lot- a lot I wish I- ." 

He stopped himself before he said something too mortal, glanced away, and got back to business. "I don't want you to quit your training because of me or my father. If you can't stand the idea of being around me because of that, I understand." He paused a long moment, and inhaled again. "I won't hound you about it but it doesn't mean you have to quit. It's not worth throwing away everything we've been through." He tried to move his head into her stare, "You're not a quitter, Kesselia. You wouldn't have made it this far if you were."

Kess glared at him from under hardened eyebrows, but the anger in her voice was already fading, "How far am I? You haven't let me in on that secret either."

He sucked in a breath realizing just how much he hadn't told her. But then, there was so much that he just didn't understand. "Hell, I don't know." He let out a pathetic grin, "I've been making all this up as I go along."

Kess dropped her head and let out a sad smile. She closed her eyes and put a hand over her face. She didn't know what she wanted anymore. He was Darth Vader's son, and that was a little too much for her to handle, but her heart bled at the idea of sending Luke away forever. She was completely torn at what to do.

Luke reached for her wrist and pulled her hand away from her eyes. Then thumbed away the incriminating tear she was trying to hide. He didn't want to do it this way, but it was the only way he was going to get her to finish her training without breaking the rules. He pulled his hand away and took a step back. "Look, um. . . I've taught you everything I know about _how_ to use the Force. You just need the experience on _when_ to use it, and _why_ to use it. You need practice and you need discipline and you don't need me to teach it to you. So, if it will get you to complete your training. . .  train without me."

Kess' eyes flicked to him, her expression crumbling.

Luke held the stare for as long as he could, but had to turn away before he changed his mind about it. "You know what to do, you know what you need to work on. You don't need _me_ to finish this but you _do_ need to finish this. The Alliance needs it. . . for the moral booster as much as anything else. You can join the Guild or. . . _not_." He stopped and pressed his lips together, staring at the ground. Then he blinked and turned to the stage to pick up her lightsaber. "I won't interfere unless you ask." He pivoted on his heals to her, looking solemnly at the small lightsaber in his hand.

He stared at the saber he offered, and held his breath as he waited for her to take it. When her fingers slowly wrapped around the grip and pulled it from his hand, his heart leaped in bittersweet joy and then quickly shriveled in his chest. He bit his lips together to keep from smiling, and to keep from crying. He sucked in a deep sigh to calm it all and pulled out the ace he had up his sleeve.

Two black and beaten datacards fell out of his pocket into his hand and he brushed his thumb over the top one before he gave it to her. His deep voice had lowered to almost a whisper. "This is a piece of the Jedi Guide Chronicles that I never told you about. I wanted you to get the story out of your father first but, um. . ." he watched her hand gingerly take it. "It has some of your grandfather's history and I put in what little I know about him. . . ." He stressed his next point, "But I can't explain why it contradicts what your father told you." He blew a sigh out of his mouth and inadvertently tightened his grip on the other datacard. 

"Thank you," she said quietly, like she still wasn't sure she wanted to know any more secrets, but appreciated being given the option. She looked at the other datacard in his hand and sad brown eyes looked up at him.

Luke wouldn't look at her, but he saw her as he stared at the datacard. He swallowed hard and suddenly blinked. "Well, here." He shoved it in her hand and stepped backward, stuffing his fists back into his pockets as though he were trying to keep them from wandering off. "You'll, uh. . . "he tried to smile, "you'll figure it out. . ."

Kess saw his nervousness and looked down at the card he was so reluctant to give away. 

**What not to do while training a (female) Jedi Apprentice.**

When she looked up again, he had strolled to the other side of the room and broad shoulders lowered to the floor as he reached for her rank insignia. He didn't look at her when he strolled back, but sighed wearily at the dirty tile. When he reached her, he raised his hands to her neck and snapped the insignia back on her green collar. Without even a glance at her eyes, he stepped back to the stage and put his own insignia and lightsaber back to their places. 

Kess licked her lips uncomfortably, wondering what was in there that he was so apprehensive about letting her read. She looked at the cards in one hand and her lightsaber in the other and realized that it was really over. He didn't try to argue with her about getting her to come back. He didn't complain when she asked for the transfer. He just let her go her own way and was giving her everything that she needed to do it. 

She was suddenly filled with absolute terror about trying to finish her training without him. She didn't realize, until this very moment, just how comfortable it was to have his wisdom and strength to lean back on. 

But maybe this was exactly what she needed.

She searched his sad blue eyes that still weren't looking at her. She wanted to see them twinkle again. She wanted to see him smile. But even now, no matter what she said or did, he wasn't about to do anything that would break the rules of a Jedi Master. 

Suddenly, he blinked out of his daze and stepped to the side. "So, um, let me know if you change your mind, all right?" He said it as casually as though she had turned him down for a business lunch and walked quickly to the side door behind her.

Kess stood there completely dumbfounded for a full second and then spun around, "Luke, wait."

But he was already gone.

Kess choked back the anguish but the soreness in her throat didn't go away. Her lips quivered a little and she touched the spot in her Force print to control the hurt. Then quickly, she stuffed the datacards in her pocket and trotted to the door. 

There was an average crowd in the manager's office already. Neilson was tapping away at her terminal, trying to retrieve some information in her absence. Several grunts leaned over to him, rattling off questions and tidbit data. Teik stood at the far end, his face scales shimmering as he spoke to several pilots at once. And Wedge stood in front of Luke's desk, leaning over and explaining the information on the datapad that he was pointing to.

Luke didn't look up at her. He leaned deeply onto his desk with one elbow and rested his forehead with his fingers, shielding his eyes from her. He sighed deeply and muttered a question to Wedge.

Neilson's voice called out over the crowd, "Kess, where'd you put that file with the shield diag codes in it?"

Kess closed her mouth and looked at the ground. There was nothing else she could say to him now anyway. She glanced at him again. He wouldn't listen now if she did. Maybe she could go to the clearing after work. It would at least give her time to figure out what she wanted to do. She walked quickly to her desk and leaned over the old salt in her chair. 

Without a word, she punched the keys to show him where the file was. Several of the engineers started talking at once about one of the grounded X-wings, but what she heard was Luke's deep voice at the other end of the room, "Muster the pilots first. I'll take care of this." 

Kess looked over just as Wedge nodded and stepped away. Luke lowered his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger as if trying to wake himself up. Again, he sighed deeply and dropped his hand impatiently on the desk to turn to the terminal, blinking several times. With quick movements he slapped a datacard into the drive, rested his fingers on the keys and stared at the terminal screen.

Kess squeezed her eyes shut and turned back to her own terminal. This was a little too much to handle for one day and she decided to let the issue rest for while until they both calmed down. She leaned an elbow on Neilson's shoulders and turned her attentions completely to the problems of Rogue Repair. Within five minutes of reviewing the data and listening to confused reports from the engineers, she grabbed her notes and stormed out the door, pointing at the other problems the grunts were supposed to be tending to, and snapping off orders more coldly than usual. She walked swiftly across the floor to Rogue Twelve and pulled up a ladder to its cockpit. 

She had every right to be angry. Why was it taking so much work to stay that way? He had evaded too much truth. He would smile warmly at her one minute and plow her into the ground the next. He wouldn't say how he felt and then sent her out on her own like he didn't care. 

He didn't _want_ to care. That's what hurt the most. 

She dashed halfway up the ladder and leaned over the railing, ripping open the side panel and letting it drop to the floor with a tremendous clatter.

"Taking your temper out on that thing is not gonna fix it any faster." The man's voice wasn't immediately familiar. Kess had to turn around and see the balding gray hair that matched the shade of the worn tunic. The well-built, middle-aged man had crossed blades with her before, but they were only fencing blades.

Poco Lokey's foggy eyes smiled up at her, "Or has all that Jedi crap totally wiped away your desire to be an engineer?"

Her eyes brightened and she hopped down the steep ladder with a sigh, "It just been kind of a. . . a rough morning."

Lokey's gray eyes glowed at Kess as he offered a hand, "Rett told me you came back. I've been waiting for you to come back to fencing class."

Kess shook his hand with a smile, "No offense, but I found a better teacher."

"I heard." Lokey put a hand in his front pocket and leaned onto one leg. "How is that coming anyway?"

Kess shrugged as she remembered her depression and decided quickly that this news didn't need to get out just yet. "Well, I get a lot dirtier, and I'm a lot more exhausted, and. . ." she shook her head at the ground, "and a lot more frustrated."

"But I'm sure you could kick some butt in my class," he stressed. "I stopped buy to see if I could convince you to come back. Now _you_ could teach the gang a lot."

Kess winced sympathetically, "I really can't, Lokey. Not until this overhaul is done at least. I don't know if I should be practicing with you guys until my training's over but-"

Lokey stepped over and patted her shoulder. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble now. But Rett misses you, so I thought I'd ask." He crooned his neck to looked up at the X-wing. "These things are bigger than I remember."

Kess turned around to the sleek craft. It didn't seem so big to her. "Were you in the military?"

Lokey's foggy eyes smiled up at the X-wing in thought, "Yeah, but that was long before the Rebellion, I'm afraid." He took hold of the handrail and looked at her, excited like a little boy, "May I?"

Kess shrugged, "Sure, I don't see why not." She glanced mournfully back at the manager's office and tore her eyes away again to follow Lokey up.

Lokey shimmied up the ladder like he was twenty years old and let out a pleasant sigh as he slid back into the cockpit. "Look at all these gadgets!"

Kess stood the top of the ladder as though she were boarding a pilot and tried to smile, "Yeah, it's amazing how they can keep track of it all."

Lokey explored the cockpit, smiling like a little boy with a new box of leggo's, and wrapped his fingers around the ergonomic throttle, "You ever flown one?" 

Kess sensed something a little off and squinted, concentrating; but couldn't figure out what it was. She shook her head slightly, bringing her mind back to the conversation. "No, actually, I haven't. Never got around to it, I guess."

Lokey's gray eyes smiled at her as his hands started flipping switches and pushing buttons. Kess' eyes went wide in complete shock. Quickly, he reached out of the cockpit, grabbed her forearms, and pulled her roughly in with him. She fell forward and was stuffed upside down in his lap until her head was scrunched into the floor by his feet. He grabbed her saber from her belt and tucked it behind his opposite shoulder, "I'll take that, thank you." The X-wing whined high, and then Lokey confidently hit the canopy control as Rogue Twelve rose into the air.

Luke rubbed the ball of his palm hard across his left eye but as soon as he brought it down, his attentions turned to the prickling of his Force senses. His eyes went wide for a second, then out on the pad, he heard the X-wing's high whine as it powered up. Luke shot out of his chair. The chatting in the manager's office went silent and everyone watched in shock as Luke ran full speed onto the floor. It took a second, but then the bodies dashed out the door behind him. 

Luke yanked his lightsaber from his belt and bolted to the only X-wing that was moving. As it rose into the air and out of reach in front of him, he growled out in rage.

Seidrik ran to the Flight Ops gear and brought the mike to his mouth. "Rogue Twelve, you are NOT clear for launch! Rogue Twelve, I repeat, you are NOT clear!" 

The stupefied group watched as the battered X-wing cleared the pad door and began to adjust its vector. Luke switched off his lightsaber, turned and ran, shouting out orders on his way to the ready room. "Board the pilots! Ready everything that flies! Get Control on line! Have them send up Green Group NOW!" The bodies on the pad scurried like frantic mice and Luke raced into the ready room and ripped open his locker.

Kess struggled on the floor of the cockpit until she could look out beyond the canopy. She saw nothing but sky and had to remind herself not to panic. "Lokey! What in the name of the Force are you doing!?" 

Lokey hissed through his teeth, "Saving my ass."

She narrowed her eyes at him and kicked Lokey hard in the face with her combat boot. His lower lip busted open and he bellowed in pain. Then, tightening his mouth in determination, Lokey punched in the thrusters.

Her stomach sank as they sped deeper into the sky. Kess gritted her teeth, trying to maneuver off the cockpit floor and was suddenly punched hard in her side. She stopped moving to gasp, but as soon as she could calm the pain, she leaned over and bit his ankle until she tasted blood.

Lokey cried out and the craft dipped so hard that they were pointing straight down. He kicked his foot in her face and yelled at her, pulling against the gravity to raise up again, "If you fight me I'll just deliver you DEAD!"

The drag runner was ordered off the pad floor as the X-wings would be launching directly from their parking spots this time. As they got there, the pilots ran into the ready room at a barreling speed and were still donning their T-suits during the race to their craft. Luke slid the helmet over his head as the canopy came down over him. As soon as he switched on the radio, he heard Seidrik's nearly frantic voice, "Rogue Five, cleared for launch!"

Luke saw Wedge out of the corner of his eye sliding into the cockpit next to him. Almost in unison, they cut the mooring lines, hit the thrusters, and both rose into the air. "Control, Rogue Five; we have a kidnapping on our hands. Lieutenant Lendra is in Rogue Twelve and I _don't_ know who the pilot is, over."

A very alert, staticy voice came over the air, "Rogue Five, Control; kidnapping aye. Green group is already on the chase and flying high west. All hands, do _not_ shoot at Rogue Twelve. Repeat. All hands . . ."

Lokey had donned a skeleton headset that he'd pulled from the inside pocket of his tunic and plugged into the radio. He told his victim as she held her dizzy head at his feet, "They've sent the order not to shoot us down, Kess. I guess they do want to keep you."

Kess managed to roll on her side. She shook the circling birds from her head and asked almost casually, "So, why am I such a precious commodity?"

Lokey glanced down at her with a grin and looked back up to search the cloud-patched sky above them. "Don't know," he said, "and I don't really care."

She sneered up at him and punched her fist passed the stick and into the man's groin. Lokey reeled and Rogue Twelve again spun wildly in the air. 

The twenty X-wings of Green Group raced high above the surface in tight formation. Luke sped to catch up, hearing complaints from them on the air. "Well, what are we supposed to do if we can't shoot 'em?"

Luke glanced up at the ozone layer, seeing nothing but sky, yet. "He's gonna try to make it into orbit where somebody can pick 'em up! Get on top of them! Keep 'em from clearing ozone!" He switched to astromech channel. "Artoo, keep your sensors on the stars. I want to know as soon as any Imperial Forces show up." Artoo beeped an acknowledgment.

Green Group scrambled to speed up over the spinning craft. It wavered in the air wildly, allowing them to catch up a little, but slowly pulled out of the spin and began to raise through the clouds ahead. Keep fighting him, Luke thought. Keep fighting him so we can catch up.

Six members of Rogue Group had joined in behind Luke and every pilot had put all power to the engines. Racing like frightened birds, they punched through the billowy clouds and went ballistic into the stars.

Back at the base, hoards of X-wings, Y-wings, A-wings, B-wings, small frigates, armored transports, and even the Millennium Falcon took to the sky. The entire Rebellion raced into space as though they missed this stuff.

Lokey had grown more anxious when he reached ozone and starting ignoring Kess' desperate struggle to turn around in the cockpit. She pulled her legs out of his lap and scrunched her whole body down at his feet. He tried to kick her in the progress, but his boots did little damage to the side of her thigh. Kess grabbed the stick low to the floor and yanked it hard. Rogue Twelve sailed in a giant, wavering U turn. Lokey fought for control of the stick until he saw his trailers, and screamed.

X-wings and came out of the clouds and shot pasted him like rain in his face. Stripes of green, gold, and red Rebel markings streaked past him, but several of them slowed and met him head on. Lokey put half power to the shields and the other half to the engines. He stared wide-eyed at the leader coming at him and fought for the throttle to pull himself out of the man's path. 

He began to panic when he saw the giant **5** on the X-wings breast, and then focused in terror at its furious pilot. He yanked desperately on the stick and ripped it from her hands. He turned out of Skywalker's path just barely, and pulled into a large circle back up towards the stars, now with Rogue Group hot on his tail. 

"I thought Rogue Group was GROUNDED!" he yelled in frustration. 

Kess pushed her body off the floor and sat crooked in his lap, grabbing for the stick again. "We can ground all of B Complex for all I care!" She yelled at him. "But you never disable more than three at a time! So, don't you worry, _pal_." She turned and screamed it right in his ear. "Because thousands of really pissed off _rebels_ will soon be on your _ASS_!" She let go of the stick long enough to send her elbow into his face and knocked off his headset. 

Blue sky faded into the blackness of night with pinpoints of stars and the crowd of one-man spacecraft left the ozone behind. Artoo beeped at him in a panic and Luke crooned his neck to look into space and suddenly saw where Green Group had disappeared to. "I KNEW it!" He yelled, "Star Destroyer, eleven o'clock high. CIC; We need more firepower out here!"

"We're sending you everything we can," Admiral Ackbar's rough voice said over the air, "Rogue Group; push them back into the atmosphere and circle them so they can't hit hyperspace. All others, _attack that Destroyer_." All at once, forty tiny little craft fired at the white hull of the Star Destroyer and TIE fighters swarmed out of the docking bay like angry bees. 

Wedge flipped over to the Rogue Only channel, "Luke, how in hell did they expect to pull this off?"

Luke's shields were beginning to shine white from invisible as his nose crept close over the top Rogue Twelve's main thrusters. "I don't think they care. They just want her out of my hands, alive or dead." His shields tapped against the others and he was slightly knocked away. "Damnit! I can't get on top of 'em!"

Wedge called out from Luke's wing, "Rogue Group, check in!"

"Rogue Four, standing by."

"Rogue Thirteen, standing by."

"Rogue Six, alive and ready to kick _some Imperial BUTT!"_. . .

Lokey was making steady progress back to the stars, he could see the Star Destroyer high above and slowly following along to meet them at the top. Tiny ships were flying everywhere and more were joining the firefight in flocks. Kess dug her fingernails into his collar and tried to pull him forward to get at her lightsaber. Lokey growled roughly at her, "Don't even bother, you fool. You turn that thing on, it'll cut through this canopy like butter!"

She realized he was right. Neither of them was in a T-suit, and high above the clouds, their bodies would explode before her lightsaber fully ignited. She looked out above them for the first time, and lost her breath at the sight of the Star Destroyer, the TIE fighters, the Y-wings, the. . . MILLENNIUM FALCON shot up in front of them and spun on its axis, aiming its evil looking guns directly at their faces. 

Kess instinctively ducked.

"What the _hell_ is going on up here!" Solo called comically into the mike.

Luke clenched his jaw with a tight smile, "It's about time!" He gave more power to the shields and skirted closer to the other X-wing, "I think they're trying to steal the Usak from us, again."

Han's pirate attitude sounded clearly in his ears, "Or they're just trying to piss _you_ off!" He sailed low over top of the bumping X-wings and purposefully dipped the Falcon's rear end to knock Rogue Twelve's nose downward. It sunk slightly and bounced right back up, trying to get out from underneath Luke. 

Rogue Group and the Falcon zipped around the craft in a large bubble, trying to safely push them back to the ground. When Kess looked again, they were surrounded by furious X-wings but still managing to slowly close the distance between them and the Star Destroyer. Two pickle-shaped, Mon Calamari cruisers were coming up fast behind the Destroyer, their Rebel squadrons already dumped into the battle, and firing full on the Star Destroyers tail. At least three squadrons of TIE fighters flocked around the cruisers and swarmed in the air chasing (and running from) the Alliance troops.

Kess' confidence melted. She'd never been in battle in such a small ship before, and suddenly felt pathetically vulnerable. Then she realized that all this was happening just to save her. She roughly yanked the headset from his mouth and yelled into it. "Somebody shoot me before they get what they came for!"

She could recognize Luke's voice even though the speakers still hung around Lokey's neck, "DON'T shoot 'em! DON'T shoot 'em!"

Kess cursed out loud and shut her eyes, sending her yelling thoughts at the white light in the Force that tailed them. _"I'm not that important, damnit! Shoot us down and they'll go away!"_

She heard his frustrated voice sound out in a dozen musical notes in the back of her head._ "You're important to _**_me_**_!" _

Even the hint that he really did care refueled Kess' rebellious fire. She stopped yanking on the stick and used all her energies to beat the living snot out of the pilot. She grabbed a hold of the gray hair on the side of his head and proceeded to bang the his face into the canopy wall several times. 

Lokey had his hands full with fighting her, fighting Luke, and fighting to keep the headset to his mouth. "The mynock is Rogue Twelve! I _have_ the Usak! Repeat! I _have_ the Usak!"

Luke caught his breath when he heard the Star Destroyer's Captain chuckle evilly over the Alliance channel, "Mugwot Pon, the time has finally come for us to meet in person. His excellency will be pleased."

Lokey coughed the blood from his mouth and continued to beat on Kess while trying to fly the ship at the same time. "Yeah, well let's get moving!" He brought his opposite fist around and slammed Kess in the nose, immediately grabbing for the stick again to steady their flight. "She's gettin' kinda feisty!" 

The craft dipped and wavered, and Luke was able to maneuver directly over top of them. As Kess continued the fistfight in the cockpit, Luke lowered down bumped hard at the shields. Rogue Twelve dove towards the planet. 

A TIE whined in front of them, skipping on the atmosphere, and was followed by an A-wing, firing rapidly until the Imperial exploded. TIE bombers, TIE interceptors, and TIE fighters zipped around them like mad, taking up chase with nearly every X-wing that fought to contain Rogue Twelve. Several of them had to peel off of the bubble, quickly leaving Rogue Twelve and Five in the hurried struggle.

Suddenly the hull groaned, and Rogue Twelve slowed to a stop, floating in space and facing the planet. Kess' eyes darted around at the gauges to try and read what happened and the ship shuddered violently as the tractor beam started pulling them backwards into the Star Destroyer.

"It's about time!" Lokey yelled with a smile of relief and let go of the stick, bringing his elbow back hard at her head. Kess cried out in pain.

Luke felt the shuddering of the tractor beam and realized that he'd been caught in it with them. He looked up and saw the giant white belly and the open bay doors. Fighting with the beam, he brought the engines to one-quarter power. He yanked hard on the stick and slowly turned upward, pointing his nose at the Star Destroyer and gave it _all_ his guns.

"Luke, stop," said Han's voice. 

Just as his firing paused, the Falcon moved in between the Destroyer and Rogue Five, the tractor beam automatically grabbed the huge disc shaped ship instead of the two X-wings, and pulled up a ship larger than the bay doors. As soon as they realized it, the tractor beam was cut off, but Han didn't move out of the way. He hovered over Luke and protected him as long as he could.

Luke pushed to spin back down on his axis without losing his position above them. But before the nose lowered to where he could actually see them, a TIE fighter came at his left side and collided with him, sending them both spinning wildly out of the way. The TIE's wingman used the same suicidal stunt on Rogue Twelve and then splintered in the air as they slid sideways. As soon as Rogue Twelve cleared from underneath the Falcon, the tractor beam regained its grip and started pulling the Usak up again. 

Kess gritted her teeth as she could actually see the bodies of Stormtroopers inside the Star Destroyer's hanger bay. Concentrating to make sure she was on the right side, she used the Force to accent her strength, tightened her grip on Lokey's hair, and sent the side of his head into the canopy with a powerful crash. The old man's body went limp, blood smeared on the transparisteel, and a foul stench permeated the Force.

Luke curled his nose and whispered out loud, "She killed him." He pulled at the stick to calm the spin and aimed it back towards the X-wing slowly rising nose-first into the cargo bay.

Kess pulled the headset from around Lokey's neck and slapped it on her head. She glanced at Luke, facing her from the side, and looked fearfully up into the Star Destroyers giant mouth. Anything was better than being live Imperial lunch. "Luke," she yelled into the mike, "SHOOT ME!"

A TIE bomber came at him from behind, and Luke called in to the mike, "You still with me, Wedge?"

"I got him!" Wedge yelled back.

Luke called out, "Rogue Twelve, all power to your shields!" _If it worked for them, it'll work for us._ He slammed on his thrusters. He flew right into the side of her and just before he hit, could see Kess' body curl into a ball on the dead man's lap in the cockpit. 

Luke's forward shields collapsed and his nose hit her shields, wrinkling it badly, and killing his sensor computer. The blips in targeting window went blank. The two X-wings spun wildly around and out of the grip of the tractor beam. "I can't afford to do that again, boys!" Luke warned, "Somebody get up here and help me." Luke fought to steady his craft and realized that his upper port thruster had gone out as well. 

The TIEs swarmed around with Rebels on their tails, distracting them from attacking the Destroyer. The Destroyer suddenly pulled all of its guns from the annoying one-man fighters and pointed them directly at Rogue Twelve. 

Luke's heart skipped a beat in horror as the Imperials decided to take the Usak dead instead. 

The green laser bolts pelted at Rogue Twelve from all directions. It jerked this way and that, a small explosion came from its rear, and both port side wings were ripped from its pointed body. The tiny lights on the ship blinked out. The severed wings drifted towards the planet and spedd up in the gravity well, quickly burning up in the nearby atmosphere. Rogue Twelve began to follow them down, completely crippled, and Luke noticed that the Destroyer was slowly moving its pointed nose between him. . . and her. 

A random collection of Rebels flew at the Destroyer's side and started taking out the its various guns. Luke pulled at his stick, the craft jerking unevenly around the Destroyer's nose. The Falcon suddenly sailed over his head, firing all guns at the looming tower. One of the Mon Calamari cruisers was moving slowly over the top-rear of the Destroyer, plowing it with red bolts of lightning, and the resulting explosion beheaded the giant Imperial triangle. The death stench hit Luke's senses again, but he smiled, "Finally!" 

He jerked his craft get around the Destroyer's nose, already showing signs of small internal explosions. He yelled worriedly into the mike, "Rogue Twelve. Report!" 

Silence.

Luke sent his thoughts out just as he spotted the craft drifting from the exploding Star Destroyer. He sighed heavily, fighting his ship to meet her, _"Kesselia, talk to me."_

Kess shuddered in the darkened cockpit, having been and knocked around like a marble in a pinball machine. Her head was dripping with blood and her upper left arm was motionless. She barely heard Luke's voice in the back of her mind and then the shock began to wear off. "Sonofa- BITCH that hurt!" But when she crooned her neck to do so, she saw the Star Destroyer, completely engulfed in flames, drifting down to crash into the planets surface. . .  and  right  on  top  of  her. 

At least the TIEs were dropping out of the firefight rapidly as the Rebels outnumbered them more and more. Luke's nose-wrinkled X-wing was creeping in her direction, and the Mon Calamari cruiser drifted powerfully over the Destroyer, popping off what was left of the TIEs. But those clear signs of winning the battle didn't help her out a whole lot.

She frantically pulled at the throttle with her good arm to no avail. The dead X-wing didn't even make a noise. Her head was flooded with dizziness and the gut wrenching pain in her arm grew unbearably. She looked back up at Destroyer, the oxygen spraying out of its hull in angry flames and its massive weight caught in the gravity well. She pleaded out to Luke, _"Bump me again." _

"I CAN'T!" Luke growled out loud in frustration. The remaining TIEs carried out their last orders and zipped toward Rogue Twelve to shower it with red bolts. Luke fired at them, but couldn't get a lock onto anybody because his sensors were out, and he couldn't maneuver smoothly enough to take up chase either. He was able to tug himself next to her again, and fired out at any approaching TIE. Several squadrons of Rebels were happy to lock on target and blow the TIEs to oblivion one by one, but one came from behind and hit Rogue Five squarely in the rear. His other three thrusters went dead.

A Gold pilot called over the mike, "Rogue Twelve, I'm right behind you. I'm gonna push you out of the way." 

Luke knew that the slightest tap could collapse her airtight integrity and the vacuum of space would suck her whole body through a pinhole if it could. He spoke heavily, "Rogue Twelve's dead of power. She can't hear you, and her shields are down." He pulled on his own stick, but the ship didn't respond. "Get out of here, Gold Three. Get out of the way of it."

Kess saw the two hovering over her in indecision and made the decision for herself. _"Get out of the way, Luke. It's too close. . . We can't afford to lose both Jedi."_

Luke huffed and glanced over. 

She wasn't kidding. 

Kess touched her fingertips on the warm transparisteel canopy towards him. His X-wing drifted sideways into her, his upper port wing less than a meter from her hull, and the massive wall of flames licked at what was left of his shields. She could see the helmet in the cockpit turning away from the heat. Kess closed her eyes and calmed her breathing. She put her thoughts to the Force and whispered her last word to him-

_"Kesselia, use the Force."_ Luke's voice said in the back of her mind. _"Push yourself away from it."_

Her eyes opened with a gasp at the interruption and she looked out at his helmet-covered face. She fought her thoughts to calm, but fear, shock, pain, and panic was all she could find. She stared out at Luke until his face turned away. He bowed his head as if to pray, and she heard his voice whisper at her again, _"C'mon, don't give up on me now."_

Kess swallowed the cold blood from her mouth and closed her eyes, adjusting her half-cocked position on the dead man's lap and brought her working arm to her chest. She reached down deep into her soul and grabbed a hold of the only part of her emotional cloud that wasn't black with panic and fear. But the love that was left was still darkened blood red with the passion of a broken heart. It may be on the Dark Side, but it was going to have to do.

She could feel his power in the Force out there, pushing the back of her ship and using the Star Destroyer as leverage. In near zero gravity, the crafts crept away from each other evenly. His grip against the Destroyer's hull was aimed at the back of the ship to let it twist to the side and around them.

She reached out with him and began to push as well. On the Dark or Light side, at least she'd be alive. The power quickly grew easier and her senses stretched out to push against the entirety of the giant triangular hull. Her heart began to fill with a hunger for more power, more passion, more intensity than she's ever felt in her life. She began to hate the Empire more than ever before, she began to loath her father more than the simply dysfunctional relationship would warrant. She took all these emotions out on the Star Destroyer and gritted her teeth with insidious pleasure when the giant machine started moving closer to the atmosphere. As her thoughts engulfed the whole scene, she recognized the distance growing between her and the Destroyer, but Rogue Five hadn't moved.

Her concentration collapsed. Her eyes flew open and she scrambled around in the cockpit. Luke's head was still bowed, using his strength to push her out of the way, but his X-wing was already drifting down into the atmosphere from the force of the spewing flames. He sat there like he didn't even notice and continued to push the back of her X-wing until it completely cleared the Destroyer's wide tail. She could barely see his body now because of the distance, but when the red-hot beams of the hull scraped on his upper starboard wing, his Force light melted away.

Kess screamed, "Luke!"

The hull of Rogue Twelve jerked violently upward. Kess' eyes darted about to see if someone had hit her, but she found the Mon Calamari cruiser moving slowly over top of her like a mother bird to its chick. Her tiny craft shuddered as it came even closer and Kess recognized the feel of the tractor beam with a smile. Just as quickly, she turned back to Luke and smiled wider. The sleek body of Rogue Five was shaking violently toward her, charred black on one side, and frozen in its cock-eyed position as the cruiser pulled him out of the Destroyer's path. 

The Star Destroyer drifted painfully close by Luke's tail and accelerated nose-first into the atmosphere. She could see the triangle melt into a jagged ball as it fell to the planet's surface like giant, flaming meteor. It hit the ground in less than a minute, and Kess could see the planet's crust quivering from the blow. The enflamed crater seemed no larger than the head of a pin, which meant, from this distance, it was gigantic. 

Kess turned to Luke and smiled dizzily. She could barely see his helmet move to look at her and then his head dropped back against the cockpit seat in relief. Hundreds of Rebel troops flew ahead of them to the base, she could see the olive drab bodies in the docking bay and could imagine the shouting of victory when the last TIE fighter exploded in space. Kess laughed happily, overwhelmed at the relief that they would live, and sighed the words aloud instead, where no one would hear her. "I love you."

When she brought the breath back in, her lungs stung and her sight wavered in nausea. She blinked rapidly and slowed her breathing through an agape mouth to fight off the drunken feeling. When the power had gone dead, so had her life support systems, and she was already running out of oxygen in the canopy. She looked back up to the cruiser, now enveloping her in its belly, and the tractor beam slowly pulled her aside the open hole in the floor. The bodies that raced around her craft started to leave multiple images of themselves as they ran.

Kess fought the dizziness, trying to keep from passing out, and closed her eyes until she could hear the crowbars scratching to get under the lip of the canopy. Just as she looked up, the seal broke and fresh oxygen rushed in. She gulped down the cool air in desperation and reached out for the first hand she felt, pulling herself from the coffin.

She saw flashes of the scene between long blinks of queasiness. Arms grabbed her body in several places, steadying her enough to climb out of the cockpit and onto grated steal steps. Her eyes didn't want to stay open and her legs stumbled weakly down the ladder. She saw stiff faces and relieved grins, olive drab and khaki clad bodies, and heard the shouting of orders echo in large bay with after-battle emergencies. The only real thought that crossed her mind was to notice that she wasn't one of the engineers that loaded the wounded quickly into the medvacs this time. She _was_ one of the wounded.

There was a body under her good arm and body behind her opposite side and both sets of hands carrying her dragging feet away from the X-wing. But then the bright lighting ahead was dimmed as there were more bodies in front of her. Her eyelids peeled opened to see a dirty, white life support unit on the chest of a red orange T-suit, inches from her face and she felt large hands grip her waist. She could smell his musky skin and instantly recognized the way his hands gripped her, careful and firm. She fell into his arms but he fought her grip to move one arm under her legs and pick her up completely. 

Kess panted into the stiff muscles of his neck and felt his hot veins still pumping with adrenaline. Her panic and fear dissolved into relief and safety, and then she promptly passed out.


	11. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

_She's angry at me. She quit. She's in danger of being kidnapped again. She's wounded. She used the Dark Side of the Force. And now they tell me that her concussion may have left her blind._

Luke took a deep sigh, but it didn't do him any good.

"Commander?" Lieutenant Deitrik's soft voice was wary and worried.

Luke blinked his eyes open to look at Yana and took the ice pack off of his head. He pushed himself off the medical bed and stood tall to finally take off his orange flight suit. "Thanks for coming," he said with an exhausted voice. 

"Is she okay?" she asked.

He slowly peeled away the orange suit from his khaki uniform as he talked. "Her arm is broken in two places, she's got a lot of bumps and bruises-"

Yana nodded at all this. She heard all that already. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Luke's eyes rose from under his brows to look at her.

 "I meant, is she okay with you?" Yana glanced to verify that there was no one in the medlab room, and no one in the open hall close enough to eavesdrop. She lowered her voice. "She was calling you every name in the book, last night. She said she wasn't a Jedi anymore. Now, I've seen her mad at you before, but last night…" she shook her head. "She scared the bees out of us." 

Luke's eyes died as they closed again to hide his expression from her.

"I don't have the _need_ to know what happened, I know that, but, she's my friend and I'm worried sick. Please just tell me everything is going to be okay."

Luke stood and straightened the shoulders of his shirt without facing her. He sighed out his nose and tilted his face her direction, but looked at the ground at her feet. His voice was deathly quiet. "I don't know."

Yana took in a deliberate, open-mouthed sigh – the non-Jedi way to meditate. Then she straightened her shoulders when she let it out. "All right. Um. Well, reporting as ordered… sir."

Luke looked at the worry in her face and wondered if his looked just as grave. "We need to wake her up and get a debrief report. I asked for you because she's going to need a friend when she first wakes up, especially if she can't see. There are going to be several people listening in, but take your time anyway and don't worry about what she says. Just keep her calm and make her comfortable, then ask her the questions."

Yana nodded a little at nothing in the air. "What are the questions?"

"'Who kidnapped her and how does she know him?'" He shook his head and shifted his feet towards the door. "Nobody seems to be able to identify the body."

Yana followed his flank even at his slow pace, and noticed his tired shoulders. They moved down the hall and into a viewing room to another medlab room. There were a few chairs, but nobody was sitting in them. They stood to talk to each other and glance through the window where a medical droid and a doctor were working on Kess. 

The woman was still out cold, Luke noted. Perhaps it was best. Maybe she wouldn't notice he was here.

Leia and Admiral Ackbar mumbled to themselves. Han watched Luke from the corner of his eye. Mon Mothma stepped in a few minutes later, looking at the sleeping Jedi before greeting the others with nods. 

The Chief Commander moved to Luke, "Are you ready?"

Luke looked at Yana. The question was really for her. 

Yana nodded at the Chief Commander, did an about-face, and relaxed her march when she moved through the door that separated the two rooms. She was already ordering them to wake her up before the door closed and a few seconds later, she flipped on the mike.

The tiny speaker sent through the low-quality audio from the room next door. The sounds of the meddroids made the most noise at first. Yana sat on the bed with her hip and waited patiently for the doctor to do whatever he needed to do to wake Kess up.

Commander Tolgray stepped into the room. He crossed his arms at his chest to watch and wait.

Luke stepped back close to the wall, but made sure he was still able to see her. He needed to fade into the background, but he didn't want to leave. He couldn't leave. Maintaining Jedi practices while watching the episode between Yana and Kess made him feel bounded and gagged.

"Kess?" Yana said gently. "Wake up, honey. We're home." 

Kess stirred slowly at first, then fitfully. For the sake of her health, Kess should not have been woken this early. She should have stayed under sedation until the repairs could be done on her brain tissue, but they needed to know where that spy came from so they could weed out the rest as soon as possible. 

"Kess, baby." Yana cooed with a gentle voice, combing the bangs from Kess' forehead. "C'mon, girly girl. Wake up."

Kess' eyelids wrinkled more shut than they already were. She shivered a little and licked her mouth. "Where's Luke?" She reached out a hand to grope for her friend. "Is he okay?"

Yana took her hand and held it. "Yeah, he's fine." She smiled softly. "He's around. You want me to get him?"

Kess pressed her mouth. It was as close as she could come to shaking her head. "No."

Yana got down to business. "Can you open your eyes?"

Kess started blinking to get her eyes open but closed them again. "It's too bright in here."

Yana glanced over to the others. To Yana, this proved that Kess could see. The Doctor nodded to her. Onto the next question. "Do remember what happened just now?"

Kess swallowed hard. "I can't do this, Yana. I gotta go back to sleep."

Yana urged. "I need you to wake up for just a minute. Do you remember what happened?"

"Mm." Kess licked her lips again. "We had a uh battle… over me." Her face softly winced. "I'm in so much trouble, Yana."

"Who it was that kidnapped you?"

"Lokey. Blew me away. Never thought to sense him for deceit. Course, now Luke's gonna have my ass on a platter over it. My dad's gonna have my ass on a platter over Luke. And the Alliance is gonna have my ass on a platter over Lokey." Her expressions moved as if she were talking casually to Yana, but her head remained still on the pillow and her eyes remained tightly closed. "I should've requisitioned more asses so I could afford to lose a few."

Yana smiled weakly at that. "Who's Lokey?"

"Poco Lokey." Kess explained, trying to jog Yana's memory, "My old fencing teacher. He's the one who produced Luke's mail address in the first place so I could design those dud lightsabers."

Yana nodded and glanced over to the window for any further cues. "Mm, now I remember."

Commander Tolgray breathed. He was worried it was someone in his Groups. Now he had to worry about how a civilian got into Pad 14. He nodded politely to Luke and Mon Mothma then stepped out. Ackbar muttered to Han and stepped out as well. Leia crossed her arms and looked at the apprentice in deep thought. 

Luke motioned to Yana to turn the mike off as he stepped to Mon Mothma. "As soon as her concussion's repaired, I need get her out of here."

Mon Mothma angled her head a little. "We can provide better security here."

Luke shook his head at the woman, "There's been a problem with her training. I need to take her where she can focus before we lose her entirely."

"How long?"

"Couple of weeks. Maybe not even that long."

Leia watched Luke from behind Mon Mothma's shoulder, knowing what he was talking about. Mon Mothma knew it too, even though she didn't know the reason. She didn't feel she needed to know. She just knew that it needed to be handled. "And how close are we to 'losing her entirely?'"

Luke's eyes flicked to the side as he swallowed, then flicked back with an answer. "Pretty close."

Mon Mothma gave him a small bow of the head as an approval for his request. "Do what you need to do."

Just as Mon Mothma turned to Leia and Han, Luke turned to the door and stepped quietly into the patient room. He squatted next to bed to get out of Kess' line of sight and whispered to Yana what he needed her to say.

"You're going on a trip, girly girl." Yana told her, listened for Luke's next whisper, and reworded the message a little so it sounded like it was coming from her. "You're leavin' before you wake up so, I just wanted you to know that you're in safe hands so you don't freak out when you find yourself in a ship. Okay?"

Her brows knitted as if she hadn't heard. "Where'm I going?"

Luke pressed his mouth and whispered a different answer to Yana. 

"You'll be safe," Yana insisted. "Just relax and rest up. You'll be safe. I promise."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The reporting officer shivered in his boots when he told them the news. It didn't matter that Supreme Prophet Kadaan was sitting silently in his throne, Admiral Cheenan was furious. "What made the imbecile think that we would be able to protect him after he took off in a Rebel craft in broad daylight?" He waved his hands in frustrated disbelief, "Right off the pad? In the middle of the base? Did he think those twenty flight groups would just stand around and _watch_?" Cheenan turned away with a huff.

Kadaan spoke patient and quiet. "Has Shori Ka shown more intelligence in your communiqué's?"

The reporting officer nodded. "Yes, your excellency, Shori Ka's suggestion appears more secure."

Kadaan waved a finger. "Bring me the details of the plan." He glanced at Cheenan. "I am hoping we can incorporate his plan with ours."

With a slightly calmer face, Cheenan nodded. "You think he could do us a favor or two on his way out?"

Kadaan studied his fingernails casually, "If he wants to live he will."

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

The deep hum of hyperspace filled her ears. Her left arm was incredibly sore and frozen in place at her side. She blinked open her eyes to see a dim light in the berthing cabin. A tiny kitchen unit and a two person booth were built into the opposite wall. She looked around without moving her head and found that there wasn't much more in the cramped quarters.

Slowly, she tried sitting up, and though her head pounded on the way, she was actually surprised when she succeeded. She carefully swung her bare feet to the grated metal floor and held the bunk frame to stand. She ducked instinctively and squinted behind her to find that it was a double stack bunk, but there was no one in the bed above her. 

The grating felt like it was cutting into the skin of her feet. Wobbling on jelly legs, she reached for the door, stopped to clear her mind, calm her nausea, and then pressed it open to find the bridge.

Luke looked up from the pilot's seat with a soft, "Good morning." 

Kess stepped in, shielding her eyes from the light. The stars were wavering lines, streaking past them at light speed. It reminded her how everyone looked the night before and she brought her hand to her head as she tried to remember what they were doing here.

Luke put down a datapad, pulled his feet from the co-pilot's chair, and reached for her, "Come here."

Her eyes went to him and found that he wasn't looking at her, but the side of her head. She touched her fingers to the area and felt her scalp matted with a sticky goo - "Owe!" her cry echoed in the small room.

"Don't touch it," he scolded like she was stupid. "Sit down."

She lowered slowly into the tall-backed, swivel chair and let him take the bandage out of her hair. It was the size of his hand and thick with blackened, drying blood. He delicately pushed away the matted hair at her scalp and backed away without touching the tender spot. "It stopped bleeding," he said, tossing the used bandage on the console. "We'll give it some air. . .. How do you feel?"

Her mouth was dry when she mumbled, "Like I have a hangover."

He grinned and leaned back in the chair, resting his elbow on the console. "We were a little worried about that concussion. The doctor said you may have been left blind."

In pure displeasure, brown eyes tilted to him from under her brows. "I can see fine."

He rubbed his lips together, trying to ignore her tone. "You're arm had a clean break in both places and they fused it back in place, but it'll be sore for a while." He watched her glance at the cast and caress it with the other hand. 

He fought to make his tone light and casual. "If you like, I'll show you the healing trance after we eat. It'll speed up the process quite a bit."

Kess pushed her hair back behind her shoulder and pressed her fingertips to her temples. "Did I have to earn that trick, too?"

"Sort of," he said as he moved his gaze from her, "You had to have something to _heal_."

She closed her eyes and sarcastically called him a nasty name in the back of her mind. She wanted to reach over and throw her arms around him the same time she wanted to shove him into a lifepod and eject him into hyperspace. She glanced back at the sight of hyperspace. Her mouth was dry when she mumbled, "Where are we going?" 

Luke was still facing her in the pilot's chair but he had sunk his elbows to his knees and his eyes to the ground. "To hide out for a while."

She looked at the top of his head a moment and looked around. This ship was tinier than the Falcon. Her eyes blinked slowly. "Where's Artoo?"

He rubbed his palms together and whispered it. "I left him at home."

She watched him folded his fingers tightly together. It felt like they were a divorcing couple, yet they were never a couple to begin with. 

Luke tried to break the tension, "Come on. I'll fix you something to eat."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't want to eat."

He was already moving to stand when she said it. He stopped mid-step and turned to her. He didn't want talk her into it and he had no authority to order her into it. Luke drew in a sigh and let it out, loud and worried.

"Fine, I'll eat." She stood as quickly as she could, grabbed the chair for balance, and moved passed him without looking at him.

Sitting across from her in the tiny booth, Luke watched her pick at her plate as he monotonously explained the details of the battle she hadn't seen. Someone had almost permanently disabled Yavin's tractor beam and according to other clues they found here and there, they were able to determine that it had been a quickly planned attempt to kidnap the Usak. As for the actual dogfighting: they lost three pilots out of thousands, which was, by war strategy standards, a success. But Kess couldn't help thinking that losing three pilots to save one repair grunt was an absolute tragedy. Luke tried to console her with that cliché: All for one and one for all.

He shooed her back to bed as soon the meal was over and showed her the spot in her Force print that sped up the healing process. The reluctance of his touch made the demonstration more intimate than he intended, and he hurried his senses away as soon as she took over the exercise, making it colder than he should have.

She drifted into the trance sadly.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

There was a loud crunch as the body of the ship settled onto the ground. Kess' eyes opened quickly, lacking the morning grogginess from normal sleep, and she sat up totally alert. Her headache was gone and her arm didn't hurt. Not one part of her body felt sore. She looked around in pleasant surprise. The dim lighting in the berthing cabin blinked several times before it went completely out. Heavy foot falls echoed where the floor to the bridge had lowered as a ramp out of the ship.

She hopped out of bed completely refreshed, and dressed in the first set of clothes she ripped from her military issue duffel bag. She heard his boots splash in a puddle, walking away, and unfamiliar cawing of what might have been a bird. She was struggling to pull on a sweatshirt over her arm cast and tank top, but a warm, wet air gently filled the ship and she instantly began to sweat. She tossed the sweatshirt back into the bag and let curiosity plague her mind about where they were. She heard no deep hum of power, no speeders zipping by, no voices. . . . just far away caws and cackles and an occasional splash. 

The humidity in the air grew thicker as she approached the ramp and for a moment she thought they were on a remote part of Yavin 4. Then she realized that she had absolutely no idea how long she'd been out. They could have been anywhere. 

Kess stepped out onto the surface in bewilderment. The jungle was grayer and swampier than Yavin. Snakes slithered through the trees, the evil cackles she heard were coming from every direction, but usually from a distance (thank the Force). If the ground wasn't a puddle, it was muddy. A thick mist blanketed the dirt and occasionally drifted up into the giant, gnarling trees.

Luke had hiked several meters into the jungle and was just standing there, staring even deeper into the brush. 

Within only a few steps, clots of mud clung to her shin high combat boots. She stopped to shake it off once, but soon knew that there was no way of avoiding the extra baggage and just decided to get used to it. A warm breeze blew her long hair over her shoulder, several strands tugging against the bandage on the side of her head and stinging. She stepped up behind him and squinted in the direction he was looking, but couldn't make out anything of interest in the thick foliage up ahead. 

"Where are we?" It came out as a whisper by accident. The creepiness of this planet sent chills up her spine even though her skin was already covered with a thin sheet of perspiration.

Luke didn't look at her. "Dagobah," he said as though the location was supposed to be profound.

Kess looked around in nearly a complete circle, looking for any signs of intelligent life other than themselves. "Never heard of it." When he said 'hide out for a few days', she had border colony in mind, maybe even a densely populated vacation spot, but certainly not this. "We're not really going to stay here are we?"

Luke raised a brow at her, but turned around with a smile and started strolling back to the ship. "You've never heard of it because its existence has been forgotten. It's name and its coordinates have been erased from all the navcomputers in the galaxy for over a hundred years. . . . A convenient hide out, wouldn't you think?"

Kess wrinkled her nose at the slithering, swampy jungle. "Yeah, but who would want to hide _here_?"

"Master Yoda did." He called back. He didn't turn around when he pointed directly behind him to the six-foot-tall rats nest of briar patch and vines. "That was his house."

Kess squinted out to the gray-green pile of live spaghetti and thought she detected an actual shape out of the mess. If it was a building at one time, it was completely overgrown by jungle now. But then, this Master Yoda of his could have been a frog for all she knew. Then his house wouldn't have had much to change into. 

Suddenly she realized that he was leaving her alone in the depths of the beetle ridden bushes and waded in the mud to rush back to the ship.

Luke brought out an equipment case and plopped it down on a patch of firm, wet ground by the time she caught up. She paused to look questionably at the case as he returned and he came out with another, setting it down next to the first. 

She brought up a shy finger, "Um, what are you doing?"

He turned back to the ramp for another load. "Unpacking. What does it look like I'm doing?"

She stepped to the ramp to follow him, but he met her at the dark passageway with one sleeping roll in each hand. She eyebrows raised at him in paranoia, "We're not going to stay in the ship?"

He passed her by and tossed the padded rolls to the growing pile, "Why would we?"

Her eyes shot out of her head and darted around the tress to see the huge snakes and featherless birds. "Why _wouldn't_ we?"

Luke grinned a little and returned for something else. "You can stay in there if you want to. But I've been awake in this thing for days. . . I just need some fresh air, that's all."

She smelled the rotting vegetation and wrinkled her nose. _You call this air fresh?_

It didn't take her long to realize that the cases were for nothing more than a dry places to sit. She joined him at his little campsite when she saw him pull out a ration box. It was then that she noticed that she was starving to death. Even though there were two cases as seating options, she sat on the same case that he did, staring at him innocently. 

Luke looked nervously down to the woman he'd gotten in a rip roaring argument with not so long ago, but now sat close by his side like a dog wagging its tail for a treat. He smirked and held up the ration box in a silent offer. Her white teeth flashed and she quickly picked out a finger food to stuff it in her mouth. 

He watched her for a moment, grinning quietly at her puppy-like beg for food, and the hard knot he had in his throat for days finally began to soften. The thin material of the tank top clung to her chest and its low cut neck revealed cleavage that was shiny with sweat. He watched her place the last bite of the taqat roll on her tongue and, one by one, suck the crumbs off nail-pointed fingers. She was licking the last morsel off her thumb by the time innocent brown eyes looked up at him, "What's the matter?"

Luke blinked and shook the stars from his head. He gave her the entire ration box and slid off the equipment case to kneel in front of it trying to think of something he needed out of the thing _right now_. He flipped open the metal latches and lifted off the lid thinking that, usually, when his mind wandered off like that, he would bring up some kind of casual conversation about the Force to distract her from noticing it. Now, the Force suddenly felt like a forbidden subject between them and he dug through the box's contents in a stiff silence.

Kess watched his back and ripped a bite off a second helping with her teeth. His shoulders had suddenly tightened; he let out a stiff breath through his nose. These were usual signs that something deep was on his mind and she tried her hand at the only strategy that ever worked: an innocent question on a discomforting subject. "Did those datacards you gave me make it on this trip?"

Luke's movements paused. He pulled his empty hands from the case and turned around to sit down on the ground. He leaned his back against the case, facing her with narrowed eyes when he pulled them from the breast pocket of his khaki shirt. His expression clearly said that he had hoped she wouldn't remember them. He glanced down to identify one from the other, and tossed only one of them over.

She brought her hand up to catch it in the air and raised her brows. She said expectantly as she chewed. "I don't get the other one anymore?"

He dropped his hands and the card to his lap and crossed his ankles in front of him, "I was hoping that, since we are already on this trip, I could talk you into-"

She swallowed the bite quickly to interrupt him, "I am not telling my father about this, Luke. . . . Not now. . . . Not if you want me to live long enough to graduate."

Luke met her stare, closed his mouth, and folded his arms at his chest, "What do you think he's going to do?"

Kess dropped the ration box onto the case next to her, cussing in her mind that the plan backfired again. Quickly, she stood and tried to casually walk away, but paused. There was no where to casually go.

Luke watched the stiff sigh through her nose and read the sign clearly that he'd touched on a tender subject. He thought about crossing blades with Darth Vader and recognized that he'd automatically assumed Kess' father could not have been that wicked. Luke had no idea why she was so afraid of him, and therefore, the upcoming incident could very well be as bad, if not worse, that the threats of murder from his own father. He just couldn't imagine how.

Then he reminded himself that he was no longer her teacher and had no right to ask or pressure her on the subject. In fact, he'd decided in hyperspace that the best thing he could do was contain every sliver of unsolicited advice. Hopefully, the sudden lack of attention would pull her back to him that much sooner. 

He held the datacard by the corners between his middle finger and his thumb and spinned it softly with his other fingers. He stared at it imagining the data he knew was inside. After she'd reacted so harshly about Vader, he wondered what she was going to do when she heard that Obi Wan and Ben were the same person. For a moment, he considered telling her now, just to get the beating over with.

Kess stepped toward the ship and crooned her neck to study its outer fixtures. "Is there anything on this baby to fix?"

"No. Why?" 

She sighed in disappointment and stepped away from it again, "I'm just bored."

He wave a hand at the dense jungle, "Go for a walk," he offered like he didn't really care, and then stressed, "You won't be bored. That's for sure."

Kess scanned the trees and easily spotted the camouflaged lizards and spiders that swarmed them, "No thanks." With a deep sigh she stepped back over to him, leaning over just long enough to grab another taqat from the box in his hand, and sat back on the case. After a bite, she looked out to the trees again, and the only part of her body that didn't have goose bumps was her left arm, motionless in the cast. 

She looked down at the cast, the sand-olive plaster was already beginning to fray, and concentrated on what the nerves in her arm were telling her. They told her that the wound didn't hurt at all anymore, and she decided that it was time to take the thing off. "You got any tools?"

"What kind?" he asked through a mouthful.

She studied the thin sheet of plaster that contained her arm. "Something that'll cut."

Luke brushed the crumbs from his hand and pulled the lightsaber from his belt. He held in the air with raised eyebrows.

Her breath stopped when she saw it and lowered her voice, "I _don't_ think so."

He let out a sick grin and jammed the D-ring back in its latch. "There's probably something in that box," he said with a casual gesture.

Kess went to the brown case he pointed to and pulled off its lid. The tense silence between them was amplified by the wild cawing of the far off birds and the quiet splashes from the nearby amphibians. With a deep sigh of depression, she found a set of heavy duty shears and sat down on the ground in front of the case. She tried to ignore him, since he seemed to be trying to ignore her, and struggled to bring her right arm to an angle that wouldn't cut off her fingers as well.

"Want some help?" he offered, but there was a tone in his voice that poked deeply into her aggravation.

Kess dropped her hands to her lap, "_What_ is your problem?"

Luke shrugged and perused the ration box for the next morsel, but the tone in his voice was still there. "I'm sorry. I thought I was being polite."

She brought up the shears and whined at him, "Well, you're not trying very hard." She snipped at the plaster on the back of her hand, "You've been so friggin' quiet and everything you do say has this icy tone in it."

Luke didn't look at her, "Do you blame me?"

Kess pressed her lips together and glared at him for a second, but went back to the operation on her arm. "If you didn't want me to quit so bad then why didn't you try to talk me out of it?"

Luke bit the side of his tongue in a curse. The forbidden subject wasn't going to be ignored, but Luke no longer had the patience to try to avoid a fight. "If you wanted me to talk you out of it, then you shouldn't have bothered to quit." His deep voice went even deeper. "I don't take well to mind games."

The insult hit her as hard as it was supposed to and she gave him the same grating tone in return, "Well, _honesty_ sure as hell wasn't working."

Luke's chewing came to a halt and his eyes drilled holes in her head. "I had very good reasons for not telling you-!"

"_And_ they were?"

He pointed the finger food at her roughly, "I was afraid that I was going to get that _very_ reaction. I _knew_ you wouldn't be able to handle it."

Kess curled her lip at him, "I didn't quit because he's was your father, I quit because I'm sick of being left in the dark. You didn't tell me about Vader, and even now you won't tell me what you know about Obi Wan." She waved a hand at the datacard that had found its way back to his breast pocket and started pulling the shredded plaster from her arm.

Luke closed his eyes, pressed his mouth and sighed stiffly.

"Ever since that day my grandfather showed up, you've been tight as a drum." Brown eyes flared at him, and were scared about bringing it up again, all at the same time. "You're 'big secrets' don't work well with your 'big mistakes', Luke." She chuckled sadly as she kneaded her arms muscles awake again. "Sometimes I wish you _would_ turn to the dark side for a little while, even if you have to turn into Vader Junior to do it. . . just so I can get one or the other out of you."

His nose curled in the air at this, "What do you think I'd do if I turned?" He put a hand on his knee and leaned to eye her. "Do you think _that's_ what's going to get me to lower you to the ground and-" his chest yanked in the air before he said it. He couldn't even say the words.

Brown eyes flicked up at his sudden silence, and they started to smile at his expression . Kess lifted her chin with daring. "Say it."

Luke's heart physically swelled with a sweet sort of pain. He tried to cool it off with carefully breathing, but it didn't do much good. He closed his eyes and swallowed. "Not until you're training's over."

"My training _is over," she corrected, thick with insinuation. "I quit. . . Remember?"_

Luke stared at her for a long time. His voice came out nervous, "Well, you're not training with _me, but you're still training to be a Jedi. . . . " His eyes squinted at her uncomfortably, realizing that she never actually _said_ she'd continue without him. _

Kess pulled the shredded plaster from her arm and kneaded the sleeping shoulder muscles. She chuckled at him, "Do you realize that it took you a whole ten seconds to think that one up?"

Luke blinked again and pulled his eyes to his lap. He wiped a hand over his face, cursing himself under his breath.

Kess grinned at him, "You know, every time you do that, you just get more frustrated." She folded her arms at her chest, "and then you just get even more pissed off at yourself the next time you do it."

He was still rubbing his wrinkled nose. "Do what?"

"Try to stomp out your emotions like that." She suddenly giggled at him and whipped her hair over her shoulder. She looked down at her wrist as she rubbed it awake. "It's kind of cute actually," she muttered a bittersweet grin.

Luke looked at her with sarcasm, "Well, let me go find my father's helmet and let's just see how cute I can get."

Her eyes twinkled at him, "You want to know what I think?"

Luke pushed himself off the ground. "No."

Her smile widened. "I think that you're scared you are going to turn in to your father more than anyone else is. You get mad at yourself every time you show any emotion at all, you won't even let yourself laugh without feeling guilty about it." She crossed her legs and leaned forward. "You are so convinced that you have to control _all_ your feelings that you're suffocating and it's driving you nuts."

Luke's defenses skyrocketed for reasons he could not quite pinpoint. He tried to rub the ripples from his forehead and stepped away from the tiny campsite. He placed one hand on his hip and hissed at her, "_You_ are the one that is driving me nuts." He needed to go meditate again. He needed to get out of the intense company, the insinuating questions, the nagging. . . He started to walk away.

Kess swallowed her giggle and rose her voice at his growing distance. "That's just because I can read you like a book, _without_ the use of the Force, and you _can't stand it_." 

He turned with a wince and a whine, "If you could read me that well, we wouldn't have gotten into this fight in the first place."

She was still sitting down, resting easily against the equipment case, but her chin lifted high to stare at him down her nose. "Fine." She said loud and quick, but there was a grin in her eyes just before she closed them and lifted her hand in his direction.

Luke's eyes flashed wide as he instinctively jumped back when her Force ability prodded at his chest to peak inside. He'd forgotten that he wasn't the only one with this ability anymore. He slammed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. He didn't have to lift his hand to keep her from getting in. "You're not invited."

"You see mine all the time," she argued and wrinkled her nose to keep wriggling her way into his soul, just to see what was coloring up his cloud.

His gritted teeth smiled a little. He put his hands on his hips and let his chin drop. "That's only because you advertise it." His face calmed a great deal, and as it did, Kess' wrinkled that much more.

"Owe!"  Her eyes opened and glared at him. She shook her hand in the air as if he'd just pinched it.

No matter how trained she got, he was still going to be nearly twice as strong. He was Darth Vader's offspring after all. His eyes opened to glare this reminder at her, but the blue of his eyes were filled with something else entirely. He looked at her like a mortal that was so brokenhearted at the moment that he wasn't _half_ a strong.

Her voice softened a little, and her chin lifted again, "You work so hard to keep me from seeing what's in your chest that you forget it comes out of your eyes just as loudly."

Luke closed his eyes and folded his lips closed again. There was a small knit between his brows when he dropped his hands from his hips. He turned his back to her and started strutting rapidly away.

Her confidence disintegrated when he walked right by the ramp of the ship and kept walking. "Where are you going?"

"To get some firewood," he said without turning. His stroll had quickened into the shrubbery.

She scrambled to her feet and called out, pointing at the unmistakable unit in the open case behind her,  "Why don't you just use the heat-lantern?" 

He ducked under a low tree branch and snapped back, "Because I feel like doing it the old fashioned way!"

Force senses or not, she was now convinced she could read him as well as she claimed. Kess bit her lower lip to keep from smiling, "Want some help!"

"No!" 

And then he was out of sight. Kess giggled at his desperate departure as she sat down again. She sat back down pull the ration box into her lap and ate with both hands.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Over an hour later and a kilometer away, Luke ripped a dead limb from a tree, clenching his teeth in the process and tossing it roughly into the small scattered pile.

He just needed time away from her, he convinced himself. Yes, time. A few hours to not have to listen to the eager questions or the impatience in her voice. Time away from the flirting and the arguing. Time where he didn't have to bite his own tongue or hold his own hands down. He reached up the gnarling trunk again and cussed out loud. "Women." He ripped a small branch from its mother and threw it roughly on the ground. "Why did my first apprentice have to be a woman?" The word and its synonyms rolled in his head, _women. . . vixens. . . aliens. . . ._  

And her name followed it_. Kesselia Kenobi Lendra. . .  Skywalker_. . . .

His movements paused as he thought about it. _He_ wanted children. _He_ wanted a quiet place on a quiet planet with no Empire and no Alliance. No military and no politics. He wanted to laugh out loud without the people around thinking that he'd lost his mind. He wanted to lose his temper without everyone, including himself, thinking he'd suddenly change into Vader. He remembered moments of her exploding temper and the sound of her free laughter and he wanted to be eighteen years old again; a young, eccentric, reckless farm boy strutting up to a city girl in the streets of Mos Eisley, and flirt his way into a date.

Luke's shoulder collapsed into the gray trunk as he realized it.

He wanted to be mortal again.

"Human mating customs, strange they are." The familiar frog-like voice said aloud and cackled his cackley laugh, "Yes, yes. Very strange indeed."

Luke closed his eyes and his head dropped into the tree trunk.

"_Jedi_ mating customs. . ." the voice lowered in smiling seriousness, "_different subject entirely_." Master Yoda glowed into existence with the same old wide eyes, the same old gimerstick, and the same old cryptic wisdom.

Luke rolled his back onto the tree and smiled weakly at his Master, thanking the Force that someone showed up to clue him in on what he was doing wrong.

Yoda stepped just feet from where he stood, continuing the instruction, "With human Jedi, stronger the need to mate is, because they _know_."

Luke slid his back down on the tree and sat on the ground. He propped his elbows on his knees and dug his fingers into his bangs. "They know each other," he clarified quietly. It made perfect sense. "When you can sense the other's emotions, feel what they're feeling, know what their thinking. . . you fall in love a hell of a lot faster." He rubbed his temple and slammed his eyes shut. He didn't just say _that_ word out loud, did he?

Master Yoda waddled forward to him and pointed the gimerstick at him. "Remember your lessons. Every emotion you had, you mastered control. Love is no different. Complex, it is not. Stronger than the others," he shook his head as if thinking, "it is not."

Luke asked timidly, "Is it on the dark side?"

Master Yoda's eyes widened and his ears perked as he chortled at the boy. "Hee hee hee. If the dark side love is, than how would we breed more Jedi? Hmm?"

Luke dropped his head and smiled pathetically as the 900 year old Master laughed at him. Here he was, a full grown man and he still needed fatherly advice about women. He had grown so lonely over the years that it occasionally drove him tears. That loneliness had mutated into pure frustration when the young, brown-eyed, Force sensitive, city girl was planted right in front of him and he couldn't touch her. It was almost like the woman was hand picked for him. She would be his first Jedi, with the same interest in decrypting the Force that he had. She had the same dedication to the New Alliance and her commission. She knew more about Artoo and his X-wing than _he_ did. She had an attitude. She had _fun_. 

Yoda looked at him seriously. "A Jedi Master you are. . . You tell me." He leaned on his stick and began to turn away. "Tell me. How do you control an emotion?"

Luke dropped his head back against the tree and swallowed hard at the answer, "You face it."

Yoda frowned and nodded, "Anger. Tell me how do you face anger."

Luke put his hands out in front of him and dismantled the idea, "You investigate it, interrogate it. . . pick it apart and calm the different pieces-"

Yoda roughly pointed the gimerstick at him, "And you don't calm it with violence!"

Luke breathed slowly, "Right."

"No different love is. Calm the different pieces." Yoda lowered his chin, "But not with mating."

Luke opened his mouth to defend himself, but knew better. He sighed wearily again, gave Master Yoda a weak smile and nodded. "I can't touch her until her training is over," he whispered in disappointment. "Just like Ben said."

Yoda's hairy brows raised in humor at him. "Already touch her often you do. It is she who cannot touch you." 

Luke's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "No, Master, what I meant was-"

"_Hech_!" Yoda cursed him for questioning him and stabbed his gimerstick at the ground "Know what you meant, _I do_." 

Luke angled his head, "If I let her touch me, it's going to make it worse."

The little man perked up again, "For whom?"

Luke swallowed. His eyes shifted to think on that.

Yoda's round face and wrinkled mouth aimed at him. "_Control_. . . . Do not _deny_."

Luke closed his eyes in complete understanding. Stuffing the emotions back down his throat was the wrong example. Exploiting any teacher-student relationship was all out bad karma, but Luke had used the law like a crutch. Deep down in her Force-sensitive soul, she knew exactly how Luke felt about her, making him the complete hypocrite. He was so busy trying to teach her how to bend in the wind, he hadn't realized how stiffly he was keeping her at arms length with a rigidly locked elbow. 

Yoda waddled up so close that Luke could have reached out and verified that the being wasn't really standing there. Yoda rose a hand and a Force-powered finger print pressed deep into Luke's chest. "Let her _know_… the way she knows _how_ to know." If his stick were real too, it would have poked Luke in the chest. "You know. She does not know." He sighed, "_That_ is why you argue."

Luke thought on this a long moment and nodded. "I understand."

"Abbreviated your training was." Yoda said quietly. "Teach you everything we could not. On _this_ emotion, more than her Jedi Master, Kesselia knows… and a better Master you will be if from your apprentice you learn."

Luke's lips parted with a want to argue. He didn't realize how much of a control freak he'd become about it until someone ordered him to let some of it go. The thought of letting her in was terrifying.

Yoda looked at the ground for a second and turned away, "The tree you came for." He paused looking in the apprentice's direction. "She is not ready." He leaned on his gimerstick and began to step away. "Test when ready. . . not when convenient."

Luke bit his lips together. The tree was a desperate idea to inadvertently show her the strength of the dark side and hopefully convince her to come back. She wasn't ready to venture out on her own; especially after she had to use the dark side to push Rogue Twelve away from the Star Destroyer. Luke knew how close she had come to turning. I

In his regression, Yoda started to waddle away. 

Luke scrambled to stand, "Master Yoda, wait."

Yoda stopped and turned patiently around, raising his chin.

Luke shoulders began to melt. "Ben. . . " Just when he expected it to be denied, he realized how badly he wanted it. "Does he disapprove?" 

Yoda's ears drooped a little, "Biased Obi Wan is. To him, like a son you are. And a granddaughter she _is_." His eyebrows rose with humor, "Heh, _very_ biased."

Luke blinked at him childishly. "I need to know."

Yoda continued to waddle away as though he hadn't heard him. "Human mating customs. _Hech_." The green elderly rose his voice to a guttural growl. "Who introduced you?" He paused and glanced back at Luke one more time with a grin in his giant eyes. "Need not the Force to answer that." 

In other words, don't ask stupid questions. Embarrassed, Luke put his hands on his hips and smiled at the ground. He looked back up to Yoda with a new glow to his face. "Thank you."

"_Hmph_," Yoda grumbled as if this whole thing was a burden to his schedule. His eyes smiled at Luke before he turned and leaned on his stick. As he waddled away, his ethereal image faded into the dark jungle.

Luke sat down where he stood and put the lesson to work. The birds cooed, the frogs croaked and Luke meditated to figure this out. When he kissed her in the clearing, he had momentarily lost control. He would have taken her down and made love to her right then and there if Ben hadn't shown up. But he would have done it out of sexual frustration. 

He hadn't fallen for her yet. Not like now. _That's_ what he was scolded for. 

He had worked so hard to ignore everything that was going on inside. He had denied to himself that he was losing sight of the objective as though denial would make the problem go away. But the problem was not going to go away. The _emotion_ was not going to go away. 

Luke smiled and blinked rapidly as he happily did what he was told. With a deep, calming sigh, he closed his eyes and concentrated, digging into his swirling colorful cloud. He reached the giant red lump in the corner, bursting at the seems in invisible containment, and let it out.

**  **  **  **  **  **  **  **  **

Kess had gently taken the bandage off her head and cleaned off the dried blood and sweat in the ship's hypo-shower. Then she strolled around the area without letting the ship leave her sight. She could feel the life in the jungle. All around her were living things, amplifying the Force and eating it at the same time. It was a sixth sense to her now. She had to consciously turn the off Force sensitive receivers these days. She habitually meditated when she started to get riled up and repeatedly turned off the alarm with a flick of her finger in the air. He was right. There was no way in hell she was going to drop this like a hot rock.

She thought about reading the Apprentice notes in his growing absence, but her jaw tightened at her own mistakes. She was so upset about their fight in the muster room that she hadn't sensed Lokey's deceit. She was so frightened and panicked that she couldn't push herself away from the Destroyer on the Light side. She knew what she had to do, she knew what she had to practice, and she knew what she had to accomplish, but she wasn't ready to do it all on her own. And there was only one person in the galaxy to teach her.

If she knew that Vader was his father earlier in the training, she would have quit immediately and never returned. You can't pick your parents. It wasn't his fault. She would have picked a different father if she could. Luke wasn't raised by the sinister villain anyway. He was adopted, and though he inherited Vader's strength in the Force, he didn't inherit the temper or the thirst for power. _The_ Luke Skywalker lived in the _barracks_ for crying out loud. He could have had a top floor apartment in South Base and a fancy office in Council building, but he didn't. He had a nice speeder, sure, but he was a pilot too, and pilots stereotypically got into fast vehicles and cool toys. 

She lay out the sleeping roll and sat down on it to lean her back against one of the cases. All too often he dove on top of her to send them skidding in the dirt when she made a mistake during her training, but he never once raised his hand and his voice at the same time. When they weren't in the middle of guerrilla warfare, he was incredibly gentle when he touched her, like the time he was showed her how to reach with the dud lightsaber, or when he brushed passed her on an X-wing's ladder, and when he picked her up to rush her to safety.

She remembered the playful debates in his living room, and how she quickly grew comfortable with being there and making herself at home. She realized how safe it felt to have someone to ask when she had a question about the Force. He didn't have that. She was his guinea pig apprentice, he admitted he would make mistakes and he said that he was making it all up as he went along. 

And suddenly she was overwhelmed with guilt at how hard she was making this for him.

Kess decided that she would be one pathetic Dark Jedi. She wondered if Dark Jedi were capable of falling in love. Even though that flavor of passion was still dark, it didn't seem possible that love's heat could warm a Dark Jedi's soul. She would have asked about that a long time ago, but Luke would snap at her and retreat every time the subject came up. 

She took the card out of the datapad and put it back in her pocket without having read a word. She would read it when her training was over. She still had a long way to go. And she needed a Jedi Master to get her there. 

The little light that filtered to the wet jungle floor was beginning to fade. Kess looked up nervously at that dense canopy and checked her chronometer. He had been gone for nearly three hours. She had kept her senses open, so if he was actually in danger, she would have felt it. At least she thought she would. 

Slightly worried, she stood and sensed out beyond her immediate surroundings for his location. As she scanned the area in a wide circle like a radar, but instead of his warm, soothing, white light, she found a large dark spot. It was empty and cold and black as night. Her eyes flung open with a gasp. She turned in that direction, fearing that the source was humanoid and saber wielding.

A rustle in the bushes sounded behind her and Kess spun around like a jittery squirrel. Luke came out of the trees with an armful of wood and a small grin. "Luke," she said quickly and pointed, "There's a dark spot over there, I think it's a-"

Luke looked out to where she was pointing, sensed the cave, and looked back at her, obviously not worried, "You think it's a what?"

Kess nervously retreated her pointing finger and scratched her ear with it, feeling really stupid. "A, uh, a Dark Jedi?" She curled her nose when she saw his easy grin of humor, "It isn't, is it?"

Luke let the thick, spidery branches fall from his arms and dusted the splinters and dried leaves from the khaki fabric on his chest. "No, it isn't. Sense it again." He knelt to the ground, tightened the rolls in his sleeves, and began to tear the dead wood apart. He glanced up at her back as he built a small fire, but his eyes were back to saying things that his mouth wouldn't.

Kess turned her shoulders back to the cold direction, closed her eyes and felt out with the Force. A shadow crossed her peace as her thoughts approached. Cold and darkness she sensed. Evil. Hatred. She sucked in a breath and tried to dig through the dark emotions of the area to get down to the brass tax. She felt a life, a quiet life. Never moving. Reaching to the sun and drinking the minerals in the soil. Her eyes squinted open, "It's a tree?"

Luke arranged a neat little pile in the middle of the dais and put a snap-burner to it. "It's a very big tree," he said without looking up, "with a cave in its roots."

Kess turned back to him and stepped to his new fire, "How can a tree be so dark?"

The wood ignited and the flame grew slowly. "The tree itself isn't dark, the cave is. A Dark Jedi died there years ago and left his Force print behind." Luke backed up to the case behind him and crossed his ankles as he stared deeply into the fire. His thoughts were still swarming with the new feeling, now pumping freely through his veins.

Kess blotted her lips in thought as she stood there. The golden light of the fire danced warmly on her cheeks, and let a full minute pass in silence. She had thought of at least dozen ways to bring it up, but every last one of them was drained from her memory. Her confidence deteriorated and she mumbled out something on the snide side of a casual conversation. "That's not a lot of firewood for three whole hours."

Luke's eyes flicked to her, but there was humor hidden in there somewhere. "I ran into an old friend."

Kess squinted at him and scanned around the jungle, growing more alive as night fell. "Here?" She stopped herself and looked at him cautiously.

Luke smiled at her nativity, and nodded, "And I got a pretty good talking to if that makes you feel any better."

She sat down on the sleeping roll and hugged her knees in front of her. "I wasn't trying to get you in trouble," she said sadly. 

"You didn't." He smiled at his lap and brought up one knee to rest his elbow on it.

"Who was it?"

"Master Yoda." He raised his face to the fire and smiled. "And talk about humiliating," he joked, "he gave me advice about women and he's not even human."

Kess busted out a snicker at that and then nervously giggled more that Luke made a joke about a tender subject. 

His eyes glowed as he watched her laughter. Her eyes were wide and amazed by the expression.

Suddenly, she drew in a breath and shook her head at him, trying to wipe the smile from her face. She thought for a long minute, trying to concentrate enough on the task at hand. But she gave up on trying to create a clever strategy or a witty phrase and drew up the courage to just pull the datacard out of her pocket. She solemnly looked at it and then looked at him. 

She offered it to him.

Blue eyes flicked to her and the corners of his mouth began to smile. "Did you read it?"

Kess dropped her gaze and shook her head. 

Luke didn't try to wipe the quiet smile from his face when he took the card from her hand. He simply dropped it carelessly on the bed roll and crossed his arms to let her have as much rope as she wanted.

She combed her fingers from her temple, around the back of her neck, and pulled the golden hair over her opposite shoulder. She visibly fought with the wording and finally just blurted it out. "I need your help, Luke. I can do this by myself." She turned to look at him sincerely. "I want you to be my Jedi Master again." 

Luke barely shook his head, but the tiny grin didn't fade. "No, you don't."

Her eyebrows saddened at him and she pulled her sights back to the fire with a hard swallow. This wasn't going to be as easy as she thought.

Luke said it quietly, "You want me to be your boyfriend."

Kess' heart skipped a beat. Her eyes darted to him staring wisely back at her. The faint smile on his lips grew cocky like an arrogant pilot. 

She wondered suddenly if this was another test. She wondered if she was supposed to dash away from the subject like terrified prey or face him down with quick wit and fight the predator up front. The problem was neither tactic was quite her style. She would rather fake a limp and fall to the ground, just telling the predator to go on with his meal. _I give up_, she thought, _Just eat me._ But that could have been taken the wrong way if she had said it out loud, and her face crumbled in blushing laughter when she realized how close she had been to actually saying it. 

Luke rose his chin arrogantly and rested his elbows on the case at his back. "Ha! Speechless. I don't remember what the score is, but I get a point." He chuckled at his lap. It almost sounded evil.

Kess crossed her legs and rested her elbows on them, trying to hide a shy grin with her fingers. It would figure that as soon as she was begging to be reinstated and swearing to behave, he would lay in on the subject he repeatedly scolded her for bringing up. 

She grinned at her lap, "Boyfriend, suitor, mate. . . whichever term you prefer." 

Luke chuckled at her with a full smile. She was still blushing a little even though her chin was cocked with arrogance. His eyes twinkled at her. He gave himself permission to feel everything he wanted to. A warm tingling swelled in his chest and he didn't try to snuff it out. The light of the fire sparkled in her eyes and he didn't try to look away. This was scary as hell and as rich and sweet as a five star desert, but Luke decided firmly that he would slice it up and pacify it. . .  tomorrow.

His voice was easy, "Those options aren't available until you're training is over."

She sobered a little, but was still far from sadness or depression about it. She nodded wisely. "I understand that."

He realized that she didn't have her senses on, and it was probably deliberate so she wouldn't feel the rejection when he shut her out again. He rolled forward to stand on his knees. "I want to show you something."

She moved as if to get up and follow him until she realized he wasn't actually going anywhere. He simply settled on his knees in the hard, moist dirt, and cocked his head at her. "Come here." He waved her casually over.

Kess swallowed nervously at what Jedi instruction required her close proximity, especially after such a non-Jedi topic, but she moved obediently to her knees and faced him. 

Luke licked his lower lip with sufficient butterflies about this. He raised his left hand before he reached out on the Force and politely approached in both dimensions. 

Kess' lungs felt like imploding with embarrassment when she realized what he was doing. Her eyelids wrinkled shut as she forced herself to accept that, as her Master, he had a right to sense her, even if she wasn't invited to sense him.

His eyes were still open enough to watch her expressions change. His head angled as he took her left hand by the wrist and lifted it to his chest. Her palm flattened softly over his shirt. Her eyes opened to him. Her mouth opened to breathe when she saw the invitation in his eyes.

He nodded.

Kess' eyelids drifted closed to concentrate. His fingertips fell on her collar bone when he plucked through her force barrier like a membrane and he gasped a little at all the emotion that flowed over him like warm running water. It was hard for her to concentrate, peeking in to see his cloud the same time he had poked so easily into hers, but her fingers clenched around the fabric of his shirt when she did. 

Luke sucking the air lightly between his teeth at the intensity of this. Luke's brilliant light was no longer white, and though she recognized what it was, she instantly feared for his Jedi serenity. "Oh no."

"It's okay," he whispered. 

Kess swore softly. The soft throbbing of his emotions ran blood red in places. She had known he was attracted, but she had no idea he was actually in love with her. She unintentionally sank in to his chest, until his finger tips swept up her neck and behind her ear. Her temple dropped to a rest against the side of his chin and they paused there, breathing through parted lips and swallowing dry, nervous throats, until they both tenderly retreated their thoughts.

Kess opened her eyes and cleared her lungs again. She could see his hair and his ear. His one hand kept hers on his chest and the other cradled her face to stay where she was. She wasn't pressed to him, they're knees barely touched, but they were both leaning forward enough to keep his jaw line against her temple. She wasn't sure what this gesture meant. She afraid to move closer, and she didn't want to move away. So she did what she was supposed to do in times like this, she closed her eyes again and forced herself to meditate.

A smile splashed across his face. He closed his tearing eyes, chuckling silently, and pulled both of her arms around his shoulders. Kess ducked deeper into his neck and scrambled onto his lap. She wrapped her arms and knees around him and held him tight like she hadn't seen him in months. Luke died happily into it and held her as desperately as she held him. His smile calmed, his breathing relaxed, and the redness of his passions started to dissolve back to the peace he was supposed to have in the first place.

Luke tucked his mouth next to her cheek and whispered. "I can't… whisper sweet nothings in your ear, or ravage you in the clearing. Not yet."

A little surprised, she backed up to see him. 

His face flushed a little as his smile wavered, but he managed to look her in the eyes and continue. "But I think I can tell you how much I'd like to."

Her eyes glowed in elation, soaking up every husky word he said. "Can I tell you how much I'd like you to?"

He grinned a little and dropped his forehead to hers, sighing again to calm himself down. "You can tell me anything you want." It was his way of saying there were no more rules about topics of conversation. The tension over not knowing and not being able to talk about it had been permanently lifted.

Kess was dumbfounded and staring in wide eyed, pleasant surprise. She watched his parted lips smile slightly and liquid blue eyes sparkle down at her. She felt his hesitant breath on her chin a split second before his lips touched gently on hers. Their lips folded delicately together and then both mouths opened entirely. 

It was sweet and shallow, soft and short. He bit his lip as he pulled away again and smiled like it was the farm boy's first kiss of a life time. Kess simply soaked up the attention and reflected his glow. The light of the fire threw deep shadows into the jungle around them. Beetles ticked and birds twittered. The chill of night fall was held back by the warmth in their eyes. They stared at each other for a long time without saying a word.


End file.
